I i 






\ 



-& aa<3^., N .- , .urKjo%<:Kx. 



j^ 



THE 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



W^tt (Jfitflli^l) Bntion, 



THE COMING OF JULIUS C^SAR 

INTO THIS ISLAND, 

IN THE SIXTIETH YEAR BEFORE THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST, 

TILL 

THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 731 ; 

BY VENERABLE BEDE. 

CAREFULLY REVISED AND CORRECTED 

FROM 

THE TRANSLATION OF ME.. STEVENS, 

BY THE REV. J. A. GILES, LL.D. 

TO WHICH ARE ADDED, 

I. A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 

II. A MAP OP THE ANGLO-SAXON HEPTARCHY. 

III. A CHART OF THE DURATION OP THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGDOMS. 

IV. NOTES EXPLANATORY OP THE HISTORY. 

V. AN INDEX OF PROPER NAMES OF PERSONS AND PLACES. 

VI, A WOOD-CUT FROM THE OLD TRANSLATION BY STAPLETON, OP THE 

DATE OP QUEEN ELIZABETH. 



LONDON: 
E. LUMLEY, 56, CHANCERY LANE. 

MDCCCXL. 



^^'' 



"9 % " 



LONDON 

WILLIAM STEVENS, PRINTRR, BELL YAHD, 
TEMPLB BAR. 



I9 



/ 




PREFACE. 



The recent formation of an English Historical 
Society seems to be a sign that English History is 
beginning to engage the attention of the public. It 
is needless to apologize for the publication of the 
present volume, inasmuch as three former transla- 
tions of Bede's Ecclesiastical History sufficiently 
attest the desire on the part of those who cannot 
read the original, to have the work translated into 
their native tongue. All these translations, however, 
are now become scarce and dear. It was not 
thought fit to reprint either of these exactly, as 
they all labour under certain defects which rendered 
such a course objectionable. The old translation 
by Stapleton is as early as the reign of Elizabeth, 
and appears to have been admirably written for 
that period; but the phraseology is in many places 
obsolete, and the slightest inspection would at once 
convince a person that it could not have been cir- 
culated for use in the present day. Mr. Stevens's 



Vlll PREFACE. 

translation is in many places obscure from its too 
strict adherence to the literal meanings of words 
and sentences; besides which, the translator seems 
in some instances to have avoided difficult passages, 
and to have rendered them in such a way as to 
leave a blank in the reader's mind as to their signi- 
fication. Thirdly, the translation of Hurst is imper- 
fect. There are perhaps fifty pages of the original 
omitted in different places; and the object of the 
translator seems rather to have been to support the 
tenets of the Romish church, than to give a faithful 
and complete translation of his author. The pre- 
sent editor was unwilling to translate the work en- 
tirely afresh, from a conviction that it would retain 
much more of its dignity in a translation slightly 
removed from the ordinary language of the day. 
He therefore determined to adopt one of the former 
translations, to revise and correct it throughout, but 
without destroying the peculiarities of style, which 
seemed well calculated to convey the subject to the 
mind of the reader. The translation of Stevens 
being the best adapted for this purpose, has been 
assumed as the basis of the present volume, but the 
editor considers himself as responsible for the sense 
of the History as it now stands, and he has not he- 
sitated to alter whole sentences, wherever by doing 
so he saw a possibility of rendering the meaning of 



PREFACE. IX 

the author more explicit, or the manner in which 
that meaning was conveyed, less repulsive. Cer- 
tain decorations have been added to the volume, 
calculated to combine ornament with instruction, 
and a correct index of proper names has been ap- 
pended, by which any particular fact may be with- 
out difficulty referred to. 

It only remains to say, for the information of 
those who like complete works, that there is nothing 
in the three preceding translations which is not to 
be found in the present volume, but, on the con- 
trary, additional matter has been inserted, calculated 
to interest the student of English History. 

J. A. G. 

WiNDLESHAM, 

May 2, 1840. 



SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY. 



The Epistle Dedicatory . . . .1 

BOOK I. 
Chap. I. — Of the situation of Britain and Ireland, and of their 

ancient inhabitants . . . , .5 

Chap. II. — Caius Julius Caesar, the first Roman that came into 

Britain . . . . . .9 

Chap. III. — Claudius, the second of the Romans who came into 

Britain, brought the islands Orcades into subjection to the 

Roman empire ; and Vespasian, sent by him, reduced the Isle 

of Wight under their dominion , . .10 

Chap. IV. — Lucius, king of Britain, writing to Pope Eleutherus, 

desires to be made a Christian . . .11 

Chap. V. — How the Emperor Severus divided that part of Britain 

which he subdued, from the rest by a rampart . .12 

Chap. VI. — The reign of Dioclesian, and how he persecuted the 

Christians . . . . . .13 

Chap. VII. — ^The passion of St. Alban and his companions, who 

at that time shed their blood for our Lord . .14 

Chap. VIII. — The persecution ceasing, the Church in Britain 

enjoys peace till the time of the Arian heresy . .18 

Chap. IX. — How during the reign of Gratian, Maximus being 

created emperor in Britain, returned into Gaul with a mighty 

army . . . . .19 

Chap. X. — How in the reign of Arcadius, Pelagius, a Briton, 

insolently impugned the grace of God . . . ib. 

Chap. XI. — How during the reign of Honorius, Gratian and 

Constantine were created Tyrants in Britain ; and soon aftei 

the former was slain in Britain, and the latter in Gaul . 20 



XXXll SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY. 

PAGE 

Chap. XII. — The Britons being ravaged by the Scots and Picts, 
sought succour from the Romans, who, coming a second time, 
built a wall across the island ; but the Britons being again in- 
vaded by the aforesaid enemies, were reduced to greater distress 
than before . . . . .21 

Chap. XIII. — In the reign of Theodosius, the younger, Palladius 
was sent to the Scots that believed in Christ ; the Britons beg- 
ging assistance of iEtius, the consul, could not obtain it. .24 

Chap. XIV. — The Britons, compelled by famine, drove the bar- 
barians out of their territories ; soon after there ensued plenty 
of corn, luxury, plague, and the subversion of the nation . 25 

Chap. XV. — The Angles being imdted into Britain, at first 
obliged the enemy to retire to a distance ; but not long after, 
joining in league with them, turned their weapons upon their 

confederates . . . . .27 

\ Chap. XVI. — The Britons obtained their first victory over the 
\^ Angles, under the command of Ambrosius, a Roman . 29 

(Thap. XVII. — How Germanus, the bishop, sailing into Britain 
with Lupus, first quelled the tempest of the sea, and afterwards 
that of the Pelagians, by Divine Power . . .30 

Chap. XVIII. — The same holy man gave sight to the blind 
daughter of a tribune, and then coming to St. Albans, there 
received some relics of his, and left others of the blessed 
apostles, and other martyrs. . . . .32 

Chap. XIX. — How the same holy man, being detained there by 
an indisposition, by his prayers quenched a fire that had broken 
out among the houses, and was himself cured of a distemper 
by a vision . • . . .34 

Chap. XX. — How the same bishops procured the Britons assist- 
ance from heaven in a battle, and then returned home . 35 

Chap. XXI. — The Pelagian heresy again reviving, Germanus 

returning into Britain with Severus, first healed a lame youth, 

then having condemned, or converted the heretics, they restored 

.-•" spiritual health to the people of God. . . .37 

/ Chap. XXII. — ^The Britons, being for a time delivered from 

f foreign invasion, wasted themselves by civil wars, and then 

gave themselves up to more heinous crimes . . 38 

Chap. XXIII. — How Pope Gregory sent Augustine, with other 
monks, to preach to the English, and encouraged them by a 
letter of exhortation, not to cease from their labour . 39 

Chap. XXIV. — How he wrote to the Bishop of Aries to entertain 
chem . . . . . 41 



SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY. XXXlll 

PACK 

€hap. XXV. — Augustine, coming into Britain, first preached in 
the Isle of Thanet to the King of Kent, and having obtained 
hcence, entered that county in order to preach therein . 42 

Chap. XXVI. — St. Augustine in Kent followed the doctrine and 
manner of living of the primitive Church, and settled his epis- 
copal see in the royal city . . . .44 

Chap. XXVII. — St. Augustine, being made bishop, sends to 
acquaint Pope Gregory with what had been done, and receives 
his answer to the doubts he had proposed to him . , 45 

Chap. XXVIII. — Pope Gregory writes to the Bishop of Aries to 
assist Augustine in the work of God . . .61 

Chap. XXIX. — The same pope sends Augustine the paU, an 
epistle, and several ministers of the word . . .62 

Chap. XXX. — A copy of the letter which Pope Gregory sent to 
the Abbot MeUitus then going into Britain . . 64 

Chap. XXXI. — Pope Gregory, by letter, exhorts Augustine not 
to glory in his miracles . . . .65 

Chap, XXXII. — Pope Gregory sends letters and presents to King 
Ethelbert . . . . . . Q7 

Chap. XXXIII. — Augustine repairs the Church of our Saviour, 
and builds the monastery of St. Peter the Apostle ; Peter the 
first abbot of the same . . ^. • .70 

Chap. XXXIV. — Ethelfi-.id, King of the Northumbrians, having 
vanquished the nations of the Scots, expels them from the 
territories of the English . . . .71 

BOOK II. 

Chap. I. — Of the death of the blessed Pope Gregory . . 72 

Chap. II. — Augustine admonished the Bishops of the Britons to 
catholic peace and unity, and to that effect wrought a heavenly 
miracle in their presence ; of the vengeance that pursued them 
for their contempt . . . . .80 

Chap, III. — How St. Augustine made Mellitus and Justus, 
Bishops ; and of his death . . . .84 

Chap. IV. — Laurentius and his Bishops admonish the Scots to 
observe the unity of the Holy Church, particularly in keeping 
of Easter; Mellitus goes to Rome . . .85 

Chap. V. — How, after the death of the Kings Ethelbert and 
Seberht, their successors restored idolatry ; for which reason, 
both MeUitus and Justus departed out of Britain . .88 

d 



XXXIV SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY. 

PAGE 

Chap. VI. — Laurentius, being reproved by tlie Apostle, converts 
King Eadbald to Christ; Mellitus and Justus are recalled . 91 

Chap. VII. — Bishop Mellitus by prayer quenches a fire in his 
city. . . . . . .92 

Chap. VIII. — Pope Boniface sends the Pall and an Epistle to 
Justus, successor to MeUitus . . . .94 

Chap. IX. — The reign of King Edwin, and how Paulinus, coming 
to preach the Gospel, first converted his Daughter and others 
to the faith of Christ . . . .96 

Chap. X. — Pope Boniface, by letter, exhorts the same King to 
embrace the faith . . . . 99 

Chap. XL — Pope Boniface advises Queen Ethelburga to use her 
best endeavours for the salvation of her consort. King Edwin 102 

Chap. XII. — King Edwin is persuaded to believe, by a vision 
he had seen when he was in exile . . . 105 

Chap. XIII. — Of the Council he held with his prime men about 
embracing the faith of Christ, and how his High Priest profaned 
his Altars ...... 109 

Chap. XIV . — King Edwin and his Nation become Christians ; 
Paulinus baptizes them . , , .111 

Chap. XV. — The Province of the East Angles receives the Faith 
of Christ . . . . . .113 

Chap. XVI. — How Paulinus preached in the Province of Lindsey, 
and of the reign of Edwin . . . .114 

Chap. XVII. — Edwin receives letters of exhortation from Pope 
Honorius, who also sends Paulinus the Pall . \. 116 

Chap. XVIII. — Honorius, who succeeded Justus in the Bishop- 
ric of Canterbury, receives the Pall and Letters from Pope 
Honorius ...... 118 

Chap. XIX. — How the aforesaid Llonorius first, and afterwards 
John, wrote letters to the Nation of the Scots, concerning the 
observance of Easter, and the Pelagian Heresy . .120 

Chap. XX. — Edwin being slain, Paulinus returns into Kent, and 
has the Bishopric of Rochester conferred on him . .122 

BOOK III. 

Chap. I. — How King Edwin's next successors lost both the faith 
of their Nation and the Kingdom ; but the most Christian 
King Oswald retrieved both . . . 125 

Chap. II. — How among innumerable other miraculous cures 
wrought by the Cross, which King Oswald, being ready to 



SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY. XXXV 

PAGE 

engage against the Barbarians, erected, a certain youth had his 
lame arm healed . • • • .126 

Chap. III. — The same King Oswald, asking a Bishop of the 
Scottish Nation, had Aidan sent him, and granted him an 
Episcopal See in the Isle of Lindisfarn . . .128 

Chap. IV.— When the Nation of the Picts received the Faith . 130 

Chap. V.— Of the Life of Bishop Aidan . . .132 

Chap. VI. — Of King Oswald's wonderful piety . .134 

Chap. VII. — How the West Saxons received the word of God 
by the preaching of Birinus ; and of his successors, Agilbert 
and Leutherius . . . . .136 

Chap. VIII. — How Earconbert, King of Kent, ordered the 
Idols to be destroyed ; and of his daughter Earcongota, and 
his Kinswoman Ethilberga, Virgins consecrated to God . 138 

Chap. IX. — That miraculous cm^es have been frequently done in 
the place where King Oswald was killed ; and that first, a 
Traveller's Horse, and afterwards a Young Girl was cured of a 
Palsy . . . . . .141 

Chap. X. — The power of the Earth of that place against Fire . 143 

Chap. XI. — Of the heavenly hght that appeared all the night 
over the bones of King Oswald, and that persons possessed 
with de\dls were delivered by them . . . 144 

Chap. XII. — Of a boy cured of an ague at St. Oswald's Tomb . 146 

Chap. XIII. — Of a certain person in Ireland that was recovered, 
when at the point of death, by the bones of King Oswald . 148 

Chap. XIV. — On the death of Paulinus, Ithamar was made 
Bishop of Rochester in his stead. Of the wonderful humility 
of King Osmn, who was cruelly slain by Oswi . .149 

Chap. XV. — How Bishop Aidan foretold to certain Seamen a 
Storm that would happen, and gave them some holy oil to lay it 152 

Chap. XVI. — How the same Aidan, by his prayers, saved the 
Royal City when fired by the enemy . . .154 

Chap. XVII. — How the post of the Church on w^hich Bishop 
Aidan was leaning when he died, could not be burnt when the 
rest of the Church was consumed by fire ; and of his inward 
life ..... . 155 

Chap. XVIII. — Of the life and death of the reUgious King 
Sigbercht . . . . . .157 

Chap. XIX. — How Fursius built a monastery among the East 
Angles, and of his visions and sanctity, of which, his flesh 
remaining uncorrupted after death, bore testimony . .153 



J 



XXXVl SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY. 

PAGE 

Chap. XX. — Honorius dying, Deusdedit is chosen Archbishop 
of Canterbury. Of those who were at that time bishops of the 
East Angles, and of the church of Rochester . . 164 

Chap. XXL — How the province of the Midland Angles became 
Christian under King Penda . . . .164 

Chap. XXII. — How the East Saxons again received the faith, 
which they had before cast off under King Sigbercht, through 
the preaching of Cedda . . . .166 

Chap. XXIII. — Bishop Cedd, having a place given him by King 
Ethilwald, consecrates the same to our Lord with prayer and 
fasting. Of his death . . . .169 

Chap. XXIV. — King Penda being slain, the Mercians received 
the faith of Christ, and Oswy gave possessions and territories 
to God, for building monasteries, in acknowledgment for the 
victory obtained . . . . .171 

Chap. XXV. — How the controversy arose about the due time of 
keeping Easter, with those that came out of Scotland . 175 

Chap. XXVI. — Colman, being worsted, returned home; Tuda 
succeeded him in the bishopric ; the state of the church under 
those teachers . . . . .182 

Chap. XXVII. — Egbercht, a holy man of the English nation, 
led a monastic life in Ireland . . . .185 

Chap. XXVIII. — Tuda being dead, Wilfrid was ordained, in 
France, and Ceadd, in the province of the West Saxons, to be 
bishops of the Northumbrians . . .187 

Chap. XXIX. — How the Priest Wighard was sent from Britain 
to Rome, to be consecrated archbishop, of his death there, and 
of the letters of the apostolic Pope giving an account thereof . 188 

Chap. XXX. — The East Saxons, during a pestilence, returning 
to idolatry, are immediately brought back from their error by 
the Bishop Jaruman . . • .192 



BOOK IV. 

Chap. I. — Deusdedit, Archbishop of Canterbury, dying, Wig- 
hard was sent to Rome to succeed him in that dignity ; but he 
dying there, Theodore was ordained archbishop, and sent into 
Britain with the Abbot Adrian . . .193 

'' Chap. XL — Theodore visits all places ; the churches of the Eng- 
hsh begin to be instructed in holy hterature, and in the Catholic 



SUMMARY OF TEIE HISTORY. XXXVll 

PAGE 

truth ; Putta is made bishop of the church of Rochester in the 
room of Damianus . . . . .196 

Chap. III. — How Ceadd, above-mentioned, was made bishop of 
the Mercians. Of his hfe, death, and burial . .198 

Chap. IV. — Bishop Colman, having left Britain, built two 
monasteries in Scotland ; the one for the Scots, the other for 
the English he had taken along with him . . 203 

Chap. V. — Of the death of the kings Oswy and Egbercht, and of 
the synod held at Heorutford, in which Archbishop Theodore 
presided ...... 205 

Chap. VI. — Winfrid being deposed, Sexulf was put into his see, 
and made bishop of the East Saxons . . . 208 

Chap. VII.— That a heavenly light showed where the bodies of 
the nuns should be buried in the monastery of Berking . 209 

Chap. VIII. — A little boy, dying in the same monastery, 
called upon a virgin that was to follow him ; another at the 
point of leaving her body, saw some small part of the future 
glory . . . . . .211 

Chap. IX. — Of the signs shown from heaven when the mother 
of that congregation departed this life . . .212 

Chap. X. — Blind woman, praying in the burial place of that 
monastery, was restored to her sight . . .214 

Chap. XI. — Sebbi, king of the same province, ended his life in 
monastical conversation . . , .215 

Chap. XII. — Haeddi succeeds Leutherius in the bishopric of the 
West Saxons ; Quichelm succeeds Putta in that of Rochester, 
and is himself succeeded by Gebmund ; and who were then 
bishops of the Northumbrians . . . 217 

Chap. XIII. — Bishop Wilfrid converted the province of the 
South Saxons to Christ . . . .219 

Chap. XIV. — How a pestilential mortality ceased through the 
intercession of King Oswald .... 222 

Chap. XV. — King Ceadwall having slain Edilwalch, king of 
the West Saxons, wasted that province with rapine and 
slaughter . . . . . .225 

Chap. XVI.— How the Isle of Wight received Christian inhabi- 
tants, and two royal youths of that island were killed immedi- 
ately after baptism . . . . .225 

Chap. XVIL— Of the synod held in the plain of Haethfeld, 
where Archbishop Theodore presided . . . . 227 

Chap. XVIIL— Of John, the singer of the apostolic see, who 
came into Britain to teach . . . . 229 



XXXVlll SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY. 

PAGE 

Chap. XIX. — How Queen Etheldrid always preserved her ^drgi- 

nity, and her body suffered no corruption in the grave. . 231 

Chap. XX. — An hymn on the aforesaid holy virgin . 235 

^.Chap. XXI. — Bishop Theodore made peace between the Kings 

Ecgfrid and Ethilred . . . .238 

Chap. XXII. — How a certain captive's chains fell off when 

masses were sung for him. . . . .239 

'^ Chap. XXIII.— Of the life and death of the Abbess Hilda . 241 - 

Chap. XXIV. — There was in the said abbess's monastery a 

brother, on whom the gift of writing verses was bestowed by 

heaven ...... 246 

Chap. XXV. — Of the vision that appeared to a certain man of 

God before the monastery of the city Coludi was burned down 250 
i,. Chap. XXVI.— Of the death of Kings Ecgfrid and Lothere . 254 

/Chap. XXVII. — Cuthbert, a man of God, is made bishop ; and 
-^ how he lives and teaches whilst still in a monastic life . 256 

Chap. XXVIII. — The same St. Cuthbert, being an anchorite, by 

his prayers obtained a spring in a dry soil, and had a crop from 

seed sown by himself out of season . . .258 

Chap. XXIX. — St. Cuthbert foretold to the anchorite, Here- 

berht, that his death was at hand . . .261 

Chap. XXX. — St. Cuthbert's body was found altogether uncor- 

rupted after it had been buried eleven years ; his successor in 

the bishopric departed this world not long after . . 263 

Chap. XXXI. — Of one that wa's cured of a palsy at the tomb of 

St. Cuthbert . . . . .265 

Chap. XXXII. — Of one who was cured of a distemper in his eye 

at the relics of St. Cuthbert ..... 266 

BOOK V. 

Chap. I. — Oidilwald, successor to Cuthbert, leading an eremi- 
tical life, quelled a tempest when the brethren were in danger 
at sea . . . . . . 268 

Chap II. — How Bishop John cured a dumb man by blessing 
him ...... 270 

Chap. III. — The same bishop, John, by his prayers, healed a sick 
maiden ...... 271 

Chap. IV. — The same bishop healed an earl's wife that was sick, 
with holy water . . . . .273 

Chap. V. — The same bishop recovered one of the earl's servants 
from death ..... 274 



SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY. XXXIX 

PAGE 

Chap. VI. — ^The same bishop, by his prayers and blessing, deli- 
vered from death one of his clerks, who had bruised himself by 
a fall . . . . . . 275 

Chap. VII. — Caedwal, King of the West-Saxons, went to Rome 
to be baptised ; his successor also devoutly repaired to the same 
church of the holy apostles , . . . 278 

Chap. VIII. — Archbishop Theodore dies, Berthwald succeeds 
him as archbishop, and among many others whom he ordained, 
he made Tobias, a most learned man, bishop of the church of 
Rochester . . . . ' .281 

Chap. IX. — Ecgberht, a holy man, would have gone into Ger- 
many to preach, but could not; Wicberht went, but meet- 
ing with no success, returned into Ireland, from whence he 
came ...... 283 

Chap. X. — AVilbrod, preaching in Friseland, converted many 
to Christ; his two companions, the Hewalds, suffered mar- 
tyrdom . . . . . .285 

Chap. XL— How the venerable Suidbercht in Britain, and Wil- 
brod at Rome, were ordained bishops for Friseland . .288 

Chap XII. — Of one among the Northumbrians, who rose from 
the dead, and related the things which he had seen, some ex- 
citing terror, others delight .... 290 

Chap. XIII. — Of another, who before his death saw a book con- 
taining all his sins, which was showed him by devils . .296 

Chap. XIV. — Of another, who being at the point of death, saw 
the place of punishment appointed for him in hell . , 298 

Chap. XV. — Several churches of the Scots, at the instance of 
Adamnan, conformed to the Cathohc Easter ; the same person 
wrote a book about the holy places . , . 300 

Chap. XVI. — The account given by the aforesaid book of the 
place of our Lord's nativity, passion and resurrection . 302 

Chap. XVII. — Of the place of our Lord's ascension, and the 
tombs of the patriarchs .... 304 

Chap. XVIII. — The South-Saxons received Eadberht and EoUa, 
and the West-Saxons, Daniel and Aldhelm, for their bishops. 
Of the writings of the same Aldhelm . . . 305 

Chap. XIX. — Coinred, King of the Mercians, and Offa, of the 
East-Saxons, ended their days at Rome, in the monastic habit. 
Of the life and death of Bishop Wilfrid . . .307 

Chap. XX. — Albinus succeeded to the religious abbot Adrian, 
and Acca to Bishop Wilfrid . . . .315 



xl SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY. 

PAGE 

Chap. XXI. — Abbot Ceolfrid sent the king of the Picts archi- 
tects to build a church, and with them an epistle concerning 
the Catholic Easter and tonsure . . .317 

Chap. XXII. — The monks of Hii, and the monasteries subject 
to them, begin to celebrate the canonical Easter at the preach- 
ing of Egbercht . . . . .331 

Chap. XXIII. — Of the present state of the English nation, or of 
all Britain, with an historical recapitulation of the whole work, 
and something concerning the person of the author . . 333 

Chap. XXIV. — A chronological summary of the foregoing his- 
tory, and of the author himself . . . 336 



j 


DURATK 


is 
m 


SUSSEX. 


f 


iElla founds the 
Kingdom of 
Sussex. 






















r 


Wessex, subdue; 
















■ 








Edilwalch res- 
tores the monar- 
chy of Sussex. 


1 
1 












sK 


• 


r,\ 


quers Sussex. 

Egbert receives tl 

and unites thei 

ent to his dominie 


18 

n 

nsi 

















TO 

THE MOST GLORIOUS 

KING CEOLWULPH, 
B E D E 

THE SERVANT OF CHRIST, AND PRIEST. 



I FORMERLY, at your request, most readily transmitted to 
you the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, which 
I had newly published, for you to read, and give it your 
approbation ; and I now send it again to be transcribed, 
and more fully considered at your leisure. And I cannot 
but commend the sincerity and zeal, with which you not 
only diligently give ear to hear the words of the Holy 
Scripture, but also industriously take care to become ac- 
quainted with the actions and sayings of former men of 
renown, especially of our own nation. For if history re- 
lates good things of good men, the attentive hearer is 
excited to imitate that which is good ; or if it mentions ill 
things of wicked persons, nevertheless the religious and 
pious hearer or reader, shunning that which is hurtful and 
perverse, is the more earnestly excited to perform those 
things which he knows to be good, and worthy of God. Of 
which you also being deeply sensible, are desirous that the 





DURATKfN OF THE KINGDOMS OF THE ANGLO-Si! XON HEPTARCHY. 




KENT. 


SUSSEX. 


WESSEX. 


ESSEX. 


EAST.ANGLIA 


MEHCA. 


NORTHUMBERLAND, 




TElla founds the 
mngdom of 


1 
'?hrKln°gd°m 


-!i!:"°' 


East Anglia. 


- 


Ida founds the Kingdom of 


ZEUn founds the King- 


6.a 


.27 










6W 










Crida founds the 
Me"r??a°" 






(eiiulin, of 

CI SusHC.-:. 








Wi-ssi-x, 8ubd 


617 










Deira. 
Edwin, the righlfol heir, reg 

EanfnT'smi of Etbelfrith, be- 
thirdea'fl'i"ofEdwin°'"° °" 
Oswald, brother of Eanfrid.K 
Osivy, brother of Oswald, 
makes Oswin, son of Osric, 
KingofDeira,underhim8elf. 


ains Deira and obtains 


633 
























^fx-srL"s 
















648 . 












Oswin, King of Deira. 


:dilwnlch res- 
hyofSuBscn. 




661 












J 


kingdom of Deira on his 
illegitimate son, Alfred. 1 
















Z'&£SS's°Lfme. 
















b^erland. 
Eanred, the last King, submits to Egbert. 




qucrs Sussex. " 1 






y£ln^£-:lT£Zlnr'"'-'''''"''''''\ 


24 Egbert UDltej Ke 






K-i^g'^^S 


70 I 1 


Edmund, King 
tEastAnglin, is 

by the Danes. 






1 










1 


1 




King Alfred by treaty granls to the Danish 
King, Guthrum, a tributary kinodom, 
eonsisting of Essex, East AngUa, and 









THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 



said history should be more fully made familiar to yourself, 
and to those over whom the Divine Authority has appointed 
you governor, from your great regard to their general wel- 
fare. But to the end that I may remove all occasion of 
doubting what I have written, both from yourself and other 
readers or hearers of this history, I will take care briefly to 
intimate from what authors I chiefly learned the same. 

My principal authority and aid in this work was the 
learned and reverend Abbot Albinus; who, educated in 
the Church of Canterbury by those venerable and learned 
men, Archbishop Theodore of blessed memory, and the 
Abbot Adrian, transmitted to me by Nothelmus, the pious 
priest of the Church of London, either in writing, or by 
word of mouth of the same Nothelmus, all that he thought 
worthy of memory, that had been done in the province of 
Kent, or the adjacent parts, by the disciples of the blessed 
Pope Gregory, as he had learned the same either from \vrit- 
ten records, or the traditions of his ancestors. The same 
Nothelmus, afterwards going to Rome, having, with leave 
of the present Pope Gregory, searched into the archives^ of 
the holy Poman Church, found there some epistles of the 
blessed Pope Gregory, and other popes; and returning 
home, by the advice of the aforesaid most reverend father 
Albinus, brought them to me, to be inserted in my history. 
Thus, from the beginning of this volume to the time when 
the English nation received the faith of Christ, have we 
collected the writings of our predecessors, and from them 
gathered matter for our history; but from that time till 
the present, what was transacted in the Church of Canter- 
bury, by the disciples of St. Gregory or their successors, 
and under what kings the same happened, has been con- 



THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 3 

veyed to us by Nothelmus through the industry of the 
aforesaid Abbot Albinus. They also partly informed me 
by what bishops and under what kings the provinces of the 
East and West Saxons, as also of the East Angles, and of 
the Northumbrians, received the faith of Christ. In short, 
I was chiefly encouraged to undertake this work by the 
persuasions of the same Albinus. In like manner, Daniel, 
the most reverend Bishop of the West Saxons, who is still 
living, communicated to me in writing some things relating 
to the Ecclesiastical History of that province, and the next 
adjoining to it of the South Saxons, as also of the Isle of 
Wight. But how, by the pious ministry of Cedd and 
Ceadda, the province of the Mercians was brought to the 
faith of Christ, which they knew not before, and how that 
of the East Saxons recovered the same, after having ex- 
pelled it, and how those fathers lived and died, we learned 
from the brethren of the monastery, which was built by 
them, and is called Lestingse. What ecclesiastical trans- 
actions took place in the province of the East Angles, was 
partly made known to us from the writings and tradition 
of our ancestors, and partly by relation of the most reve- 
rend Abbot Esius. What was done towards promoting 
the faith, and what was the sacerdotal succession in the 
province of Lindsey, we had either from the letters of the 
most reverend Prelate Cynebert, or by word of mouth 
from other persons of good credit. But what was done in 
the Church throughout the province^ of the Northumbrians, 
from the time when they received the faith of Christ till 
this present, I received not from any particular author, but 
by the faithful testimony of innumerable witnesses, who 
might know or remember the same ; besides what I had of 

B 2 



4 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 

my own knowledge. Wherein it is to be observed, that 
what I have written concerning our most holy father, and 
Bishop Cuthbert, either in this volume, or in my treatise 
on his life and actions, I partly took, and faithfully copied 
from what I found written of him by the brethren of the 
Church of Lindisfarn ; but at the same time took care to 
add such things as I could myself have knowledge of by the 
faithful testimony of such as knew him. And I humbly 
entreat the reader, that if he shall in this that we have 
w ritten find any thing not delivered according to the truth, 
he will not impute the same to me, who, as the true rule of 
history requires, have laboured sincerely to commit to 
writing such things as I could gather from common report, 
for the instruction of posterity. 

Moreover I beseech all men who shall hear or read this 
history of our nation, that for my manifold infirmities both 
of mind and body, they will offer up frequent supplications 
to the throne of Grace. And I further pray, that in re- 
compense for the labour wherewith I have recorded in the 
several countries and cities those events which were most 
worthy of note, and most grateful to the ears of their inha- 
bitants, I may for my reward have the benefit of their pious 
prayers. 



THE 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

OF THE 

ENGLISH -NATION. 



BOOK I. 



CHAPTER I. 

OF THE SITUATION OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND, AND OF THEIR 
ANCIENT INHABITANTS. 

Britain, an island in the ocean, formerly called Albion, 
lies at a considerable distance to the north and west from 
the three largest countries in Europe — Germany, France 
and Spain. It extends 800 miles in length towards the 
north, and is 200 miles in breadth, excepting only the 
greater distances of several promontories; by which its 
compass is made to be 3675 miles. To the south, as you 
pass along the nearest shore of the Belgic Gaul, the first 
place in Britain which opens to the eye, is the city of Rutubi 
Portus, which is by the English corrupted into Reptacestir. 
The distance from hence across the sea to Gessoriacum, 
the nearest shore of the Morini, is 50 miles, or as some 
writers say, 450 furlongs. On the back of the island, 
where it opens to the immense ocean, it has the islands 
called Orcades. Britain excels for grain and trees, and 
is fit for feeding cattle and beasts of burden. It also 
produces vines in some places, and has plenty of land 



O THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

and water fowls of several sorts; and is remarkable for 
rivers abounding in fish, and plentiful springs. It has 
r^ 1 the greatest plenty of salmon and eels ; seals are also 
frequently taken, and dolphins, as also whales ; besides 
many sorts of shell-fish, among which are muscles, in 
which are often found excellent pearls of all colours, red, 
purple, violet and green, but mostly white. There is also 
great store of cockles, of which the scarlet dye is made ; 
a most beautiful colour, which never fades with the heat 
of the sun or the washing of rain ; but the older it is, the 
more beautiful it becomes. It has salt springs, and hot 
springs, and from them flow rivers which furnish hot baths, 
proper for all ages and sexes, in several places, as is 
requisite for every one. For water, as St. Basil says, re- 
ceives the heating quality, when it runs along certain metals, 
and becomes not only hot but scalding. Britain has also 
many veins of metals, as copper, iron, lead and silver ; it 
has likewise much and excellent jet, which is black and 
sparkling, glittering at the fire, and being heated, drives 
away serpents ; being warmed with rubbing, it holds fast 
whatever is applied to it, like amber. The island was for- 
merly embellished with twenty- eight most noble cities, 
besides innumerable castles, which were all strongly se- 
cured with walls, towers, gates and locks. And, in regard 
that it lies almost under the North Pole, the nights are 
light in summer, so that at midnight the beholders are 
often in doubt whether the evening twilight still continues, 
or that of the morning is come on ; for the sun, which, 
during the night, is not long under the earth, returns to 
the east in the morning by the northern regions. For 
which reason the days are of a great length in summer, as 
on the contrary, the nights are in winter, the sun then 
withdrawing into the southern parts, so that they are 
eighteen hours long. Thus the nights are extraordinarily 
short in summer, and the days in winter, that is, of only 
six equinoctial hours. Whereas, in Armenia, Macedon, 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 7 

Italy, and other countries of the same latitude, the longest 
day or night extends but to fifteen hours, and the shortest 
to nine. 

This island at present, following the number of the books 
in which the Divine law was written, contains five nations, 
the English, Britons, Scots, Picts and Latins, each in its 
own peculiar dialect cultivating the sublime study of Divine 
truth. The Latin tongue is, by the study of the Scrip- 
tures, become common to all the rest. At first this island 
had no other inhabitants but the Britons, from whom it 
derived its name, and who coming over into Britain, as 
is reported, from Armorica, possessed themselves of the 
southern parts thereof. When they, beginning at the 
south, had made themselves masters of the greatest part of 
the island, it happened, that the nation of the Picts coming 
into the ocean from Scythia, as is reported, in a few tall 
ships, were driven by the winds beyond the shores of 
Britain, and arrived off Ireland, on the northern coasts, 
where, finding the nation of the Scots, they requested to be 
allowed to settle among them, but could not succeed in 
obtaining their o request. Ireland is the greatest island 
next to Britain, and seated to the westward of it ; but as 
it is shorter than Britain to the north, so running out far 
beyond it to the south, it is opposite to the northern parts 
of Spain, though a spacious sea lies between them. The 
Picts, as has been said, arriving in this island by sea, 
desired they might have a place to settle and inhabit 
granted them. The Scots ansvvered, that the island could 
not contain them both ; but " we can give you good ad- 
vice,'' said they, " what to do ; we know there is another 
island, not far from ours, to the eastward, which we often 
see at a distance, wiien the days are clear. If you will 
repair thither, you may be able to obtain settlements ; or if 
they should oppose you, you may make use of us as auxi- 
liaries."" The Picts accordingly sailing over into Britain, 
began to inhabit the northern parts thereof, for the Britons 



^ THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY " 

were possessed of the southern. Now the Picts having no 
wives, and asking them of the Scots, they would not con- 
sent to grant them upon any other terms, than that when 
any difficulty should arise, they should rather choose them- 
selves a king from the female royal race than from the 
male : which custom, as is well known, has been observed 
among the Picts to this day. In proce&s of time, Britain, 
besides the Britons and the Picts, received a third nation, 
the Scots, who, departing out of Ireland under their leader 
Reuda, either by fair means, or by force of arms, secured 
to themselves those settlements among the Picts which 
they still possess. From the name of their commander, 
they are to this day called Dalreudins ; for in their 
language Dal signifies a part. 

Ireland, in breadth, and for wholesomeness and serene 
air, far surpasses Britain ; for the snow scarcely ever lies 
there above three days : no man makes hay in the summer 
for winter's provision, or builds stables for his beasts of 
burden. No reptiles are found there, and no snake can 
live there ; for, though often carried thither out of Britain, 
as soon as the ship comes near the shore, and the scent of 
the air reaches them, they die. On the contrary, almost 
all things in the island are good against poison. In short, 
we have known that when some persons have been bitten 
by serpents, the scrapings of leaves of books that were 
brought out of Ireland, being put into water, and given 
them to drink, have immediately expelled the spreading 
poison, and assuaged the swelling. The island abounds in 
milk and honey, nor is there any want of vines, fish or 
fowl ; and it is remarkable for deer and goats. It is pro- 
perly the country of the Scots, who, migTating from thence, 
as has been said, added a third nation in Britain to the 
Britons and the Picts. There is a very large gulf of the 
sea, which formerly divided the nation of the Picts from 
the Britons ; which gulf runs from the west very far into 
the land, where, to this day, stands the strong city of the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 9 

Britons, called Alcluith. The Scots arriving on the north 
side of this bay, settled themselves there. 



CHAPTER II. 

CAIUS JULIUS C^SAR, THE FIRST ROMAN THAT CAME INTO 
BRITAIN. 

Britain had never been visited by the Romans, and was, 
indeed, entirely unknov^n to them before the time of Caius 
Julius Caesar, who, in the year 693 after the building of 
Rome, but the sixtieth year before the incarnation of our 
Lord, being consul with Lucius Bibulus, whilst he made 
war upon the Germans and the Gauls, which were divided 
only by the river Rhine, came into the province of the 
Morini, from whence is the nearest and shortest passage 
into Britain. Here, having provided about eighty ships of 
burden and vessels with oars, he sailed over into Britain ; 
where, being first roughly handled in a battle, and then 
meeting with a violent storm, he lost a considerable part of 
his fleet, no small number of soldiers, and almost all his 
horse. Returning into Gaul, he put his legions into winter 
quarters, and gave orders for building six hundred sail of 
both sorts. With these he passed over early in the spring 
into Britain, but, whilst he was marching with a large 
army towards the enemy, the ships riding at anchor, were 
by a tempest either dashed one against another, or driven 
upon the sands and wrecked. Forty of them perished, the 
rest were, with much difficulty, repaired. Csesar^s cavalry 
Avas at the first charge defeated by the Britons, and La- 
bienus, the tribune, slain. In the second engagement, he, 
with great hazard to his men, put the Britons to flight. 
Thence he proceeded to the river Thames, where an im- 
mense multitude of the enemy had posted themselves on 



10 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

the farthest side of the river, under the command of Cassi- 
belan, and fenced the bank of the river and almost all the 
ford under water with sharp stakes : the remains of these 
are to be seen to this day, apparently about the thickness 
of a man's thigh, and being cased with lead, remain fixed 
immoveably in the bottom of the river. This being per- 
ceived and avoided by the Romans, the barbarians, not able 
to stand the shock of the legions, hid themselves in the 
woods, whence they grievously galled the Romans with 
repeated sallies. In the mean time, the strong city of the 
Trinobantes, with its commander Androgius, surrendered 
to Csesar, giving him forty hostages. Many other cities, 
following their example, made a treaty with the Romans. 
By their assistance, Caesar at length, with much difficulty, 
took Cassibelan's town, situated between two marshes, for- 
tified by the adjacent woods, and plentifully furnished with 
all necessaries. After this Csesar returned into Gaul, but 
he had no sooner put his legions into winter quarters, than 
he was suddenly beset and distracted with wars and tumults 
raised against him on every side. 



CHAPTER III. 

CLAUDIUS, THE SECOND OF THE ROMANS WHO CAME INTO BRITAIN, 
BROUGHT THE ISLANDS ORCADES INTO SUBJECTION TO THE 
ROMAN EMPIRE ; AND VESPASIAN, SENT BY HIM, REDUCED THE 
ISLE OF W^GHT UNDER THEIR DOMINION. 

In the year of Rome, 798, the Emperor Claudius, the 
fourth from Augustus, being desirous to approve himself a 
beneficial prince to the republic, and eagerly bent upon war 
and conquest, undertook an expedition into Britain, which 
seemed to be stirred up to rebellion by the refusal of the 
Romans to give up certain deserters. He was the only 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 11 

one, either before or after Julius Csesar, who had dared to 
land upon the island ; yet, within a very few days, without 
any fight or bloodshed, the greatest part of the island was 
surrendered into his hands. He also added to the Roman 
empire the Orcades, which lie in the ocean beyond Britain, 
and then returning to Rome the sixth month after his 
departure, he gave his son the title of Britannicus. This 
war he concluded in the fourth year of his empire, which is 
the forty-sixth from the incarnation of our Lord. In 
which year there happened a most grievous famine in Syria, 
which, in the Acts of the Apostles, is recorded to have 
been foretold by the prophet Agabus. Vespasian, who 
came to be emperor after Nero, being sent into Britain by 
the same Claudius, brought also under the Roman dominion 
the Isle of Wight, which is next to Britain on the south, 
and is about thirty miles in length from east to west, and 
twelve from north to south ; being six miles distant from the 
southern coast of Britain at the east end, and three only 
at the west. Nero, succeeding Claudius in the empire, at- 
tempted nothing in martial affairs ; and therefore, among 
innumerable other detriments brought upon the Roman 
state, he almost lost Britain ; for under him two most 
noble towns were there taken and destroyed. 



CHAPTER IV. 

LUCIUS, KING OF BRITAIN, WRITING TO POPE ELEUTHERUS, 
DESIRES TO BE MADE A CHRISTIAN. 

In the year of our Lord's incarnation 156, Marcus An- 
toninus Verus, the fourteenth from Augustus, was made 
emperor, together with his brother, Aurelius Commodus. 
In their time, whilst Eleutherus, a holy man, presided 
over the Roman Church, Lucius, king of the Britons, sent 



12 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

a letter to him, entreating, that by his command he might 
be made a Christian. He soon obtained the object of his 
pious request, and the Britons preserved the faith, which 
they had received, uncorrupted and entire in peace and 
tranquilHty until the time of the Emperor Dioclesian. 



CHAPTER V. 

HOW THE EMPEROR SEVERUS DIVIDED THAT PART OF BRITAIN 
WHICH HE SUBDUED, FROM THE REST BY A RAMPART. 

In the year of our Lord 189, Severus, an African, born 
at Leptis, in the province of TripoHs, received the im- 
perial purple. He was the seventeenth from Augustus, 
and reigned seventeen years. Being naturally stern, and 
engaged in many wars, he governed the state vigorously, 
but with much trouble. Having been victorious in all the 
grievous civil wars which happened in his time, he was 
drawn into Britain by the revolt of almost all the confede- 
rate tribes ; and, after many great and dangerous battles, 
he thought fit to divide that part of the island, which he 
had recovered from the other unconquered nations, not 
with a wall, as some imagine, but with a rampart. For a 
wall is made of stones, but a rampart, with which camps 
are fortified to repel the power of enemies, is made of sods, 
cut out of the earth, and raised above the ground like a 
wall, having in front of it the ditch whence the sods were 
taken, and strong stakes of wood fixed upon its top. Thus 
Severus drew a great ditch and strong rampart, fortified 
with several towers, from sea to sea ; and was afterwards 
taken sick and died at York, leaving two sons, Bassianus 
and Get a ; of whom Geta died, adjudged a public enemy ; 
but Bassianus, having taken the surname of Antoninus, ob- 
tained the empire. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 13 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE REIGN QF DIOCLESIAN, AND HOW HE PERSECUTED THE 
CHRISTIANS. 

In the year of our Lord's incarnation 286, Dioclesian, 
the thirty-third from Augustus, and chosen emperor by the 
army, reigned twenty years, and created Maximianus, sur- 
named Hercuhus, his colleague in the empire. In their 
time, one Carausius, of very mean birth, but an expert and 
able soldier, being appointed to guard the sea-coasts, then 
infested by the Franks and Saxons, acted more to the pre- 
judice than to the advantage of the commonwealth ; and 
from his not restoring the booty taken from the robbers to 
the owners, but keeping all to himself, it became suspected 
that by his neglect he suffered the enemy to infest the 
frontiers. Hearing, therefore, that- an order was sent by 
Maximian that he should be put to death, he took upon 
him the imperial robes, and possessed himself of Britain, 
and having most valiantly retained it for the space of seven 
years, he was at length put to death by the treachery of 
his associate, Allectus. The usurper having thus got the 
island from Carausius, held it three years, and was then 
vanquished by Asclepiodotus, the captain of the Praetorian 
bands, who thus at the end of ten years restored Britain to 
the Roman empire. In the meantime, Dioclesian in the 
east, and ^laximianus Herculius in the west, commanded 
the churches to be destroyed, and the Christians to be 
slain. This persecution was the tenth since the reign of 
Nero, and was more lasting and bloody than all the others 
before it ; for it was carried on incessantly for the space of 
ten years, with burning of churches, outlawing of innocent 
persons, and the slaughter of martyrs. At length, it 
reached Britain also, and many persons, with the constancy 
of martyrs, died in the confession of their faith. 



14 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE PASSION OF ST. ALBAN AND HIS COMPANIONS, WHO AT THAT 
TIME SHED THEIR BLOOD FOR OUR LORD. 

At that time suffered St. Alban, of whom the priest 
Fortunatus, in the Praise of Virgins, where he makes men- 
tion of the blessed martyrs that came to the Lord from all 
parts of the world, says — 

Albanum egregium foecunda Britannia profert. 
That is, 

Fruitful Britain holy Alban yields. 

This Alban being yet a Pagan, at the time when the 
cruelties of wicked princes were raging against Christians, 
gave entertainment in his house to a certain clergyman, 
flying from the persecutors. This man he observed to be 
engaged in continual prayer and watching day and night ; 
when on a sudden the Divine grace shining on him, he 
began to imitate the example of faith and piety which was 
set before him, and being leisurely instructed by his whole- 
some admonitions, he cast oflP the darkness of idolatry, and 
became a Christian in all sincerity of heart. The aforesaid 
clergyman having been some days entertained by him, it 
came to the ears of the wicked prince, that this holy con- 
fessor of Christ, whose time of martyrdom had not yet 
come, was concealed at Alban's house. Whereupon he sent 
some soldiers to make a strict search after him. When 
they came to the martyr's house, St. Alban immediately 
presented himself to the soldiers, instead of his guest and 
master, in the habit or long coat which he wore, and was 
led bound before the judge. It happened that the judge, 
at the time when Alban was carried before him, was stand- 
ing at the altar, and offering sacrifice to devils. When he 
saw Alban, being much enraged that he should thus, of his 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION, 15 

own accord, put himself into the hands of the soldiers and 
run that danger in behalf of his guest, he commanded him 
to be dragged up to the images of devils, before which he 
stood, saying, " Because you have chosen to conceal a re- 
bellious and sacrilegious person, rather than to deliver him 
up to the soldiers, that the contemner of the gods might 
suffer the penalty due to his blasphemy, you shall undergo 
all the punishment that was due to him, if you depart from 
the worship of our religion." But St. Alban, who had 
voluntarily declared himself a Christian to the persecutors 
of the faith, was not at all daunted at the prince's threats, 
but putting on the armour of spiritual warfare, publicly 
declared, that he would not obey the commands. Then 
said the judge, "Of what family or race are you?" 
" What does it concern you," answered Alban, " of what 
stock I am ? If you desire to hear the truth of my reli- 
gion, be it known to you, that I am now a Christian, and 
bound by Christian duties." " I ask your name ?" said the 
judge ; *'tell me it immediately." " I am called Alban by 
my parents," replied he ; " and I worship and adore the 
true and living God, who created all things." Then the 
judge, inflamed with anger, said, " If you will enjoy the 
happiness of eternal life, do not delay to offer sacrifice to 
the great gods." Alban rejoined, " These sacrifices, which 
by you are offered to devils, neither can avail the subjects, 
nor answer the wishes or desires of those that offer up their 
supplications to them. On the contrary, whosoever shall 
offer sacrifice to these images, shall receive the everlasting 
pains of hell for his reward." The judge, hearing these 
words, and being much incensed, ordered this holy confes- 
sor of God to be scourged by the executioners, believing he 
might by stripes shake that constancy of heart, on which 
he could not prevail by words. He, being most cruelly tor- 
tured, bore the same patiently, or rather joyfully, for our 
Lord's sake. When the judge perceived that he was not 
to be overcome by tortures, or withdrawn from the exercise 



16 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

of the Christian rehgion, he ordered him to be put to death. 
Being led to execution, he came to a river, which, with a 
most rapid course, ran between the w^all of the town and 
the arena where he was to be executed. He there saw a 
multitude of persons of both sexes, and of several ages and 
conditions, which was doubtlessly assembled by Divine in- 
stinct, to attend the most blessed confessor and martyr, and 
had so taken up the bridge on the river, that he could scarce 
pass over that evening. In short, almost all had gone out, 
so that the judge remained in the city without attendance. 
St. Alban, therefore, urged by an ardent and devout wish 
to arrive quickly at martyrdom, drew near to the stream, 
and on lifting up his eyes to heaven, the channel was im- 
mediately dried up, and he perceived that the water had 
departed and made way for him to pass. Among the rest, 
the executioner who was to have put him to death, observ- 
ing this, moved l^y Divine inspiration, hastened to meet 
him at the place of execution, and casting down the 
sword which he had carried ready drawn, fell at his feet, 
earnestly praying that he might rather suffer with, or 
for, the martyr, whom he was ordered to execute. Whilst 
he thus from a persecutor w^as become a companion in the 
faith, and the other executioners hesitated to take up the . 
sword which w^as lying on the ground, the reverend con- 
fessor, accompanied by the multitude, ascended a hill, about 
500 paces from the place, adorned, or rather clothed with 
all kinds of flowers, having its sides neither perpendicular, 
nor even craggy, but sloping down into a most beautiful 
plain, worthy from its lovely appearance to be the scene of 
a martyr's sufferings. On the top of this hill, St. Alban 
prayed that God would give him water, and immediately a 
living spring broke out before his feet, the course being 
confined, so that all men perceived that the river also had 
been dried up in consequence of the martyr's presence. 
Nor was it likely that the martyr, who had left no water 
remaining in the river, should want some on the top of the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 17 

hill, unless he thought it suitable to the occasion. The 
river, having performed the holy service, returned to its 
natural course, leaving a testimony of its ohedience. Here, 
therefore, the head of our most courageous martyr was 
struck off, and here he received the crown of life, which 
God has promised to those who love him. But he who 
gave the wicked stroke, was not permitted to rejoice over 
the deceased; for his eyes dropped upon the ground to- 
gether with the blessed martyr's head. At the same time 
was also beheaded the soldier, who before, through the 
Divine admonition, refused to give the stroke to the holy 
confessor. Of whom it is apparent, that though he was 
not regenerated by baptism, yet he was cleansed by the 
washing of his own blood, and rendered worthy to enter 
the kingdom of heaven. The judge, then astonished at the 
novelty of so many heavenly miracles, ordered the persecu- 
tion to cease immediately, beginning to honour the death 
of the saints, by which he before thought they might have 
been diverted from the Christian faith. The blessed Alban 
suffered on the 10th day before the kalends of July, near 
the city of Verolam, which is now by the English nation 
called Verlamacestir, or Vsetlingacester, where afterwards, 
when peaceable Christian times were restored, a church of 
wonderful workmanship, and suitable to his martyrdom, 
was erected. In which place, there ceases not to this day 
the cure of sick persons, and the frequent working of won- 
ders. At the same time suffered Aaron and Julius, citizens 
of Chester, and many more of both sexes in several places ; 
who, when they had endured sundry torments, and their 
limbs had been torn after an unheard-of manner, yielded 
their souls up, to enjoy in the heavenly city a reward for 
the sufferings which they had passed through. 



18 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE PERSECUTION CEASING, THE CHURCH IN BRITAIN ENJOYS 
PEACE TILL THE TIME OF THE ARIAN HERESY. 

When the storm of persecution ceased, the faithful 
Christians, who, during the time of danger, had hidden 
themselves in woods and deserts, and secret caves, appear- 
ing in public, rebuilt the churches which had been levelled 
with the ground ; founded, erected, and finished the temples 
of the lioly martyrs, and as it were, displayed their con- 
quering ensigns in all places ; celebrated festivals, and per- 
formed their sacred rites with clean hearts and mouths. 
This peace continued in the churches of Britain until the 
time of the Arian madness, which, having corrupted the 
whole world, infected this island also, so far removed from 
the rest of the globe, with the poison of its errors ; and 
when the plague was thus conveyed across the sea, all the 
venom of every lieresy immediately rushed into the island, 
ever fond of something new, and never holding firm to any 
A D 407 tilling- At this time, Constantius, who, whilst 
Dioclesian was alive, governed Gaul and Spain, 
a man of extraordinary meekness and courtesy, died in 
Britain. This man left his son Constantino, born of Helen, 
his concubine, emperor of the Gauls. Eutropius writes, 
that Constantino, being created emperor in Britain, suc- 
ceeded his father in the sovereignty. In his time the 
Arian heresy broke out, and although it was detected and 
condemned in the Council of Nice, yet it nevertheless in- 
fected not only all the churches of the continent, but even 
those of the islands, with its pestilent and fatal doctrines. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 19 

CHAPTER IX. 

HOW DURING THE REIGN OF GRATJAN, MAXIMUS BEING CREATED 
EMPEROR IN BRITAIN, RETURNED INTO GAUL WITH A MIGHTY 
ARMY. 

In the year of our Lord's incarnation 377, Gratian, the 
fortieth from Augustus, held the empire six years after the 
death of Valens ; though he had long before reigned with 
his uncle Valens, and his brother Valentinian. Finding 
the state of the commonwealth much impaired, and almost 
gone to ruin, he looked round for some one whose abilities 
might remedy the existing evils ; and his choice fell on 
Theodosius, a Spaniard. Him he invested at Sirmium 
with the royal robes, and made him emperor of Thrace and 
the Eastern provinces. '-'At which time, Maximus, a man of 
valour and probity, and worthy to be an emperor, if he had 
not broken the oath of allegiance which he had taken, was 
made emperor by the army, passed over into Gaul, and 
there by treachery slew the Emperor Gratian, who was in 
a consternation at his sudden invasion, and attempting to 
escape into Italy. His brother Valentinian, expelled from 
Italy, fled into the east, and was entertained by Theodosius 
with fatherly affection, and soon restored to the empire. 
Maximus the tyrant, being shut up in Aquileia, was there 
taken and put to death. 



CHAPTER X. 

HOW IN THE REIGN OP ARCADIUS, PELAGIUS, A BRITON, INSO- 
LENTLY IMPUGNED THE GRACE OF GOD. 

In the year of our Lord 394, Arcadius, the son of Theo- 
dosius, the forty-third from Augustus, taking the empire 

c 2 



20 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

upon him, with his brother Honorius, held it thirteen years. 
In his time, Pelagiiis, a Briton, spread far and near the 
infection of his perfidious doctrine against the assistance of 
the Divine grace, being seconded therein by his associate, 
Juhanus of Campania, whose anger was kindled by the loss 
of his bishopric, of which he had been just deprived. St. 
Augustin, and the other orthodox fathers, quoted many 
thousand catholic opinions against them, yet they would 
not correct their madness ; but, on the contrary, their folly 
was rather increased by contradiction, and they refused to 
embrace the truth ; which Prosper, the rhetorician, has 
beautifully ex])ressed thus in heroic verse : — 

*' Contra Augustinum narratur serpere quidam 
Scriptor, quem dudum livor adurit edax. 

Qui caput obscuris contectum utcunque cavernis 
ToUere humo miserum protuiit anguiculum. 

Aut hunc fruge sua ssquorei pavere Britanni, 
Aut liuic Campano gramine corda tument." 

An insect scribbler durst 'gainst Austin write. 
Whose very heart was scorch'd witli hellish spite. 
Presumptuous serpent ! from what midnight den, 
Durst thou to crawl on earth and look at men ? 
Sure thou at first wast fed on Britain's plains. 
Or in thy breast Vesuvian sulphur reigns. 



CHAPTER XL 

HOW DURING THE REIGN OF HONORIUS, GRATIAN AND CONSTAN- 
TINE WERE CREATED TYRANTS IN BRITAIN ; AND SOON AFTER 
THE FORMER WAS SLAIN IN BRITAIN, AND THE LATTER IN 
GAUL. 

In the year 407, Honorius, the son of Theodosius the 
younger, the forty-fourth from Augustus, being emperor, 
two years before the invasion of Rome by Alaric, king of 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 21 

the Goths, when the nations of the Alani, Suevi, Vandals, 
and many others with them, having defeated the Franks 
and passed the Rhine, ravaged all Gaul, Gratian, born in a 
Roman colony, was set ^up as tyrant and killed. In his 
place, Constantine, one of the meanest soldiers, only for 
his name's sake, and without any worth to recommend him, 
was chosen emperor. As soon as he had taken upon him 
the command, he passed over into France, where being 
often imposed upon by the barbarians with faithless treaties, 
he caused much injury to the Commonwealth. Whereupon 
Count Constantius, by the command of Honorius, marching 
into Gaul with an army, besieged him in the city of Aries, 
and put him to death. His son Constans, whom of a 
monk he had created Caesar at Vienne, was also put to 
death by his own Count Gerontius. Rome was taken by 
the Goths, in the year from its foundation, 1164. Then 
the Romans ceased to rule in Britain, almost 470 years 
after that Caius Julius Csesar entered that island. They 
resided within the rampart, which we have mentioned 
Severus made across the island, on the south side of it, as 
the cities, temples, bridges, and paved roads there made, 
testify to this day ; but they had a right of dominion over 
the farther parts of Britain, as also over the islands that 
are beyond Britain. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE BRITONS BEING RAVAGED BY THE SCOTS AND PICTS, SOUGHT 
SUCCOUR FROM THE ROMANS, WHO, COMING A SECOND TIME, 
BUILT A WALL ACROSS THE ISLAND ; BUT THE BRITONS BEING 
AGAIN INVADED BY THE AFORESAID ENEMIES, WERE REDUCED 
TO GREATER DISTRESS THAN BEFORE. 

From that time, the south part of Britain, destitute of 
armed soldiers, of martial stores, and of all its active youth, 



22 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

which had been led away by the rashness of the tyrants, 
never to return, was wholly exposed to rapine, as being 
totally ignorant of the use of weapons. Whereupon they 
suffered many years under two very savage foreign nations, 
the Scots from the west, and the Picts from the north. 
We call these foreign nations, not on account of their being 
seated out of Britain, but because they were remote from 
that part of it which was possessed by the Britons ; two 
inlets of the sea lying betwixt them, one of which runs in 
far and broad into the land of Britain, from the eastern 
ocean, and the other from the western, though they do not 
reach so as to touch one another. The eastern has in the 
midst of it the city Guidi. The western has on it, that is, 
on the right hand thereof, the city Alchiith, which in their 
language signifies the Rock Cluith, for it is close by the 
river of that name. On account of the irruption of these 
nations, the Britons sent messengers to Rome with letters 
in mournful manner, praying for succours, and promised 
perpetual subjection, provided that the impending enemy 
should be driven away. An armed legion was immediately 
sent them, which, arriving in the island, and engaging the 
enemy, slew a great multitude of them, drove the rest out 
of the territories of their allies, and having delivered them 
from their cruel oppressors, advised them to build a wall 
between the two seas, across the island, that it might 
secure them, and keep off the enemy; and thus they 
returned home with great triumph. The islanders, raising 
the wall they had been directed, not of stone, as having no 
artist capable of such a work, but of sods, made it of no use. 
However they drew it for many miles between the two 
bays or inlets of the seas, which we have spoken of; to the 
end that where the defence of the water was wanting, they 
might use the rampart to defend their borders from the 
irruptions of the enemies. Of which work there erected, 
that is, of a rampart of extraordinary breadth and height, 
there are evident remains to be seen to this day. It begins 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 23 

at about two miles' distance from the monastery of ^ber- 
curnig, on the west, at a place called in the Pictish lan- 
guage, Peanfahel, but in the English tongue, Penneltun, 
and running to the eastward, ends near the city Alcluith. 
But the former enemies, when they perceived that the 
Roman soldiers were gone, immediately coming by sea, 
broke into the borders, trampled and overran all places, 
and, like men mowing ripe corn, bore down all before 
them. Hereupon messengers are again sent to Rome, im- 
ploring aid, lest their wretched country should be utterly 
extirpated, and the name of a Roman province so long 
renowned among them, being overthrown by the cruelties 
of barbarous foreigners, might grow contemptible. A 
legion is accordingly sent again, and arriving unexpectedly 
in Autumn, made great slaughter of the enemy, obliging 
all those that could escape, to fly beyond the sea ; whereas 
before, they were wont yearly to carry off their booty 
without any opposition. Then the Romans declared to 
the Britons, that they could not for the future undertake 
such troublesome expeditions for their sake, advising them 
rather to handle their weapons, like men, and undertake 
themselves the charge of engaging their enemies, who 
would not prove too powerful for them, unless they were 
deterred by cowardice ; and, thinking that it might be 
some help to their allies, whom they designed to abandon, 
they built a strong stone wall from sea to sea in a straight 
line between the towns that had been there built for fear 
of the enemy, and not far from the trench of Severus. 
This famous wall, which is still to be seen, w^as built at the 
public and private expense, the Britons also lending their 
assistance. It is eight feet in breadth, and twelve in 
height, in a straight hne from east to west, as is still 
visible to beholders. This being finished, they gave that 
dispirited people good advice, with patterns to furnish 
them with arms. Besides, they built towers on the sea 
coast to the southward, at proper distances, where their 



24 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

ships were, because there also the irruptions of the barba- 
rians were apprehended, and so took leave of their friends, 
never to return again. After their departure, the Scots 
and Picts, understanding that they had declared they 
would come no more, speedily returned, and growing more 
confident than they had been before, occupied all the 
northern and farthest part of the island, as far as the wall. 
Hereupon a timorous guard was placed upon the wall, 
where they pined away day and night in the utmost fear. 
On the other side, the enemy attacked them with hooked 
weapons, by which the cowardly defendants were dragged 
from the wall, and dashed against the ground. At last, 
the Britons forsaking their cities and wall, took to flight, 
and were dispersed. The enemy pursued, and the slaughter 
was greater than on any former occasion ; for the wretched 
natives were torn in pieces by their enemies, as lambs are 
torn by wild beasts. Thus being expelled their dwellings 
and possessions, they saved themselves from starvation, by 
robbing and plundering one another, adding to the cala- 
mities occasioned by foreigners, by their own domestic 
broils, till the whole country was left destitute of food, 
except such as could be procured in the chase. 



CHAPTER Xni. 

IN THE REIGN OF THEODOSIUS, THE YOUNGER, PALLADIUS WAS 
SENT TO THE SCOTS THAT BELIEVED IN CHRIST ; THE BRITONS 
BEGGING ASSISTANCE OF ^TIUS, THE CONSUL, COULD NOT 
OBTAIN IT. 

In the year of our Lord 423, Theodosius, the younger, 
next to Honorius, being the forty-fifth from Augustus, 
governed the Roman empire twenty-six years. In the 
eighth year of his reign, Palladius was first sent by Celes- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 25 

tinus, the Roman pontiff, to the Scots that believed in 
Christ, to be their first bishop. In the twenty-third year 
of his reign, ^tius, a renowned person, being also a patri- 
cian, discharged his third consulship with Symmachus for 
his colleague. To him the wretched remains of the Britons 
sent a letter, which began thus : — " To ^tius, thrice 
Consul, the sighs of the Britons.'' And in the sequel of 
the letter they thus expressed their calamities : — " The 
barbarians drive us to the sea; the sea drives us back 
to the barbarians ; between them we are exposed to two 
sorts of deaths, we are either slain or drowned." Yet 
neither could all this procure any assistance from him, 
as he was then engaged in most dangerous wars with 
Bledla and Attila, kings of the Huns. And, though the 
year before this, Bledla had been murdered by the treachery 
of his brother Attila, yet Attila himself remained so into- 
lerable an enemy to the Republic, that he ravaged almost 
all Europe, invading and destroying cities and castles. At 
the same time there was a famine at Constantinople, and 
shortly after, a plague followed, and a great part of the 
walls of that city, with fifty-seven towers, fell to the ground. 
Many cities also went to ruin, and the famine and pesti- 
lential state of the air destroyed thousands of men and 
cattle. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE BRITONS, COMPELLED BY FAMINE, DROVE THE BARBARIANS OUT 
OF THEIR TERRITORIES ; SOON AFTER THERE ENSUED PLENTY OF 
CORN, LUXURY, PLAGUE, AND THE SUBVERSION OF THE NATION. 

In the mean time, the aforesaid famine distressing the 
Britons more and more, and leaving to posterity lasting 
memorials of its mischievous effects, obliged many of them 



26 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

to submit themselves to the depredators; though others 
still held out, confiding in the Divine assistance, when none 
was to be had from men. These continually made excur- 
sions from the mountains, caves and woods, and, at length, 
began to inflict severe losses on their enemies, who had been 
for so many years plundering the country. The Irish robbers 
thereupon returned home, in order to come again soon after. 
The Picts, both then and afterwards, remained quiet in the 
farthest part of the island ; save that, sometimes, they would 
do some mischief, and carry off booty from the Britons. 
When, however, the ravages of the enemy at length ceased, 
the island began to abound with such plenty of grain as 
had never been known in any age before ; with plenty, 
luxury increased, and this was immediately attended with 
all sorts of crimes ; in particular, cruelty, hatred of truth, 
and love of falsehood ; insomuch, that if any one among 
them happened to be milder than the rest, and inclined to 
truth, all the rest abhorred and persecuted him, as if he 
had been the enemy of his country. Nor were the laity 
only guilty of these things, but even our Lord's own flock, 
and his pastors also, addicting themselves to drunkenness, 
animosity, litigiousness, contention, envy, and other such 
like crimes, and casting off the light yoke of Christ. In 
the mean time, on a sudden, a severe plague fell upon that 
corrupt generation, which soon destroyed such numbers of 
them, that the living were scarcely sufficient to bury the 
dead : yet, those that survived, could not be withdrawn 
from the spiritual death, which their sins had incurred, 
either by the death of their friends, or the fear of their 
own. Whereupon, not long after, a more severe vengeance, 
for their horrid wickedness, fell upon the sinful nation. 
They consulted what was to be done, and where they should 
seek assistance to prevent or repel the cruel and frequent 
incursions of the northern nations ; and they all agreed 
with their King Yortigern, to call over to their aid from 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 27 

the parts beyond the sea, the Saxon nation; which, as 
the event still more evidently showed, appears to have been 
done by the appointment of our Lord himself, that evil 
might fall upon them for their wicked deeds. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE ANGLES BEING INVITED INTO BRITAIN, AT FIRST OBLIGED THE 
ENEMY TO RETIRE TO A DISTANCE ; BUT NOT LONG AFTER, 
JOINING IN LEAGUE WITH THEM, TURNED THEIR WEAPONS 
UPON THEIR CONFEDERATES. 

In the year of our Lord 449, Martian being made em- 
peror with Valentinian, and the forty-sixth from Augustus, 
ruled the empire seven years. Then the nation of the Angles, 
or Saxons, being invited by the aforesaid king, arrived in 
Britain with three long ships, and had a place assigned them 
to reside in by the same king, in the eastern part of the 
island, that they might thus appear to be fighting for their 
country, whilst their real intentions were to enslave it. 
Accordingly they engaged with the enemy, who were come 
from the north to give battle, and obtained the victory ; 
which being known at home in their own country, as also 
the fertility of the island, and the cowardice of the Britons, 
a more considerable fleet was quickly sent over, bringing a 
still greater number of men, which, being added to the 
former, made up an invincible army. The new comers re- 
ceived of the Britons a place to inhabit, upon condition that 
they should wage war against their enemies for the peace 
and security of the country, whilst the Britons agreed to 
furnish them w^ith pay. Those who came over were of the 
three most powerful nations of Germany — Saxons, Angles, 
and Jutes. From the Jutes are descended the people of 
Kent, and of the Isle of Wight, and those also in the pro« 



28 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

vince of the West-Saxons who are to this day called Jutes, 
seated opposite to the Isle of Wight. From the Saxons, 
that is, the country which is now called Old Saxony, came 
the East-Saxons, the South-Saxons, and the West- Saxons. 
From the Angles, that is the country which is called An- 
gulus, and which is said, from that time, to remain desert to 
this day, between the provinces of the Jutes and the Saxons, 
are descended the East- Angles, the Midland Angles, Mer- 
cians, all the race of the Northumbrians, that is, of those 
nations that dwell on the north side of the river Humber, 
and the other nations of the English. Their first two com- 
manders are said to have been Hengist and Horsa. Of 
whom, Horsa, being afterwards slain in battle by the Britons, 
was buried in the eastern parts of Kent, where a monument, 
bearing his name, is still in existence. They were the sons 
of Victgilsus, whose father was Vecta, son of Woden ; from 
whose stock the royal race of many provinces deduce their 
original. In a short time, swarms of the aforesaid nations 
came over into the island, and they began to increase 
so much, that they became terrible to the natives them- 
selves who had invited them. Then, having on a sudden 
entered into a league with the Picts, whom they had by this 
time repelled by the force of their arms, they began to turn 
their weapons against their confederates. At first they 
obliged them to furnish a greater quantity of provisions ; 
and seeking an occasion to quarrel, protested, that unless 
more plentiful supplies were brought them> they would 
break the confederacy, and ravage all the island ; nor were 
they backward in putting their threats in execution. In 
short, the fire kindled by the hands of these Pagans, 
proved God's just revenge for the crimes of the people ; not 
unlike that which being once lighted by the Chaldeans, 
consumed the walls and city of Jerusalem. For the bar- 
barous conquerors acting here in the same manner, or ra- 
ther the just Judge ordaining that they should so act, they 
plundered all the neighbouring cities and country, spread 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 29 

the conflagration from the eastern to the western sea, 
without any opposition, and covered almost every part of 
the devoted island. Public as well as private structures 
were overturned ; the priests were everywhere slain before 
the altars ; the prelates and the people, without any respect 
of persons, were destroyed with fire and sword ; nor was 
there any to bury those who had been thus cruelly slaugh- 
tered. Some of the miserable remainder, being taken 
in the mountains, were butchered in heaps. Others, spent 
with hunger, came forth and submitted themselves to the 
enemy for food, being destined to undergo perpetual servi- 
tude, if they were not even killed upon the spot. Some 
with sorrowful hearts fled beyond the seas. Others, con- 
tinuing in their own country, led a miserable life among 
the woods, rocks, and mountains, with scarcely enough food 
to support life, and expecting every moment to be their 
last. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE BRITONS OBTAINED THEIR FIRST VICTORY OVER THE ANGLES, 
UNDER THE COMMAND OF AMBROSIUS, A ROMAN. 

When the victorious army, having destroyed and dis- 
persed the natives, had returned home to their own settle- 
ments, the Britons began by degrees to take heart, and 
gather strength, sallying out of the lurking places where 
they had lain hid, and unanimously imploring the Divine 
assistance, that they might not utterly be destroyed. They 
had at that time for their leader, Ambrosius Aurelius, a 
modest man, who alone perhaps of the Roman nation had 
survived the storm, in which his parents, who were of the 
royal race, had perished. Under him the Britons revived, 
and, offering battle to the victors, by the help of God, came 
off victorious. From that day, sometimes the natives, and 



30 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

sometimes their enemies, prevailed, till the year of the siege 
of Baddesdown-hill, when they made no small slaughter of 
those invaders, about forty-four years after their arrival in 
England. But of this hereafter. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



HOW GERM ANUS THE BISHOP, SAILING INTO BRITAIN WITH LUPUS, 
FIRST QUELLED THE TEMPEST OF THE SEA, AND AFTERWARDS 
THAT OF THE PELAGIANS, BY DIVINE POWER. 

Some few years before their arrival, the Pelagian heresy, 
brought over by Agricola, the son of Severianus, a Pelagian 
bishop, had sadly corrupted the faith of the Britons. But 
whereas they absolutely refused to embrace that perverse 
doctrine, so blasphemous against the grace of Christ, and 
were not able of themselves to confute its subtilty by force 
of argument, they thought of an excellent plan, which was 
to crave aid of the Gallican prelates in that spiritual war. 
Hereupon having gathered a great synod, they consulted 
together what persons should be sent thither, and by una- 
nimous consent, choice was made of the apostolical priests, 
Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, and Lupus of Troyes, to go 
into Britain to confirm it in the faith. They, readily com- 
plying with tlie request and commands of the holy Church, 
put to sea, and sailed half way over from Gaul to Britain 
with a fair wind. There on a sudden they were obstructed 
by the malevolence of demons, who were jealous that such 
men should be sent to bring back the Britons to the faith. 
They raised storms, and darkened the sky with clouds. 
The sails could not bear the fury of the winds, the sailors' 
skill was forced to give way, the ship was sustained by 
prayer, not by strength, and as it happened, their spiritual 
commander and bishop, being spent with weariness, was 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 31 

fallen asleep. Then the tempest, as if the person that 
opposed it had given way, gathered strength, and the ship 
overpowered by the waves was ready to sink. Then the 
blessed Lupus and all the rest awakened their elder, that 
he might oppose the raging elements. He, showing him- 
self the more resolute in proportion to the greatness of the 
danger, called upon Christ, and having, in the name of the 
Holy Trinity, sprinkled a little water, quelled the raging 
waves, admonished his companion, encouraged all, and all 
unanimously fell to prayer. The Deity heard their cry, the 
enemies were put to flight, a calm ensued, the winds veer- 
ing about applied themselves to forward their voyage, and 
having soon traversed the ocean, they enjoyed the quiet of 
the wished-for shore. A multitude flocking thither from 
all parts, received the priests, whose coming had been fore- 
told by the predictions even of their adversaries. For the 
wicked spirits declared what they feared, and when the 
priests afterwards expelled them from the bodies they 
had taken possession of, they made known the nature of 
the tempest, and the dangers they had occasioned, and 
that they had been overcome by the merits and authority 
of the saints. In the mean time, the apostolical priests 
filled the Island of Britain with the fame of their preach- 
ing and virtues ; and the word of God was by them daily 
imparted, not only in the churches, but even in the streets 
and fields, so that the Catholics were everywhere confirmed, 
and those who had gone astray, corrected. Like the 
apostles, they had honour and authority through a good 
conscience, obedience to their doctrine through their sound 
learning, whilst the reward of virtue attended upon their 
numerous merits. Thus the generality of the country 
readily embraced their opinions : the authors of the erro- 
neous opinions lay hid; and, like the evil spirits, grieved for 
the loss of the people that were rescued from them. At 
length, after mature deliberation, they had the boldness to 
enter the lists, and appeared for public disputation conspi- 



32 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

ciioiis for riches, glittering in apparel, and supported by the 
flatteries of many ; choosing rather to hazard the combat, 
than to undergo the dishonour among the people of hav- 
ing been silenced, lest they should seem by saying nothing 
to condemn themselves. An immense multitude was there 
assembled with their wives and children. The people stood 
round as spectators and judges ; but the parties present 
differed much in appearance ; on the one side was Divine 
faith, on the other human presumption ; on the one side 
piety, on the other pride ; on the one side Pelagius, on the 
other Cln-ist. The most holy priests, Germanus and Lupus, 
permitted their adversaries to speak first, who long took up 
the time, and filled the ears with empty words. Then the 
venerable prelates poured forth the torrent of their aposto- 
lical and evangelical eloquence. Their discourse was inter- 
spersed with scriptural sentences, and they supported their 
most weighty assertions by reading the written testimo- 
nies of famous writers. Vanity was convinced, and per- 
fidiousness confuted ; so, that at every objection made 
against them, not being able to reply, they confessed their 
errors. The people, who were judges, could scarce refrain 
from violence, but signified their judgment by their accla- 
mations. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE SAME HOLY MAX GAVE SIGHT TO THE BLIND DAUGHTEK OF A 
TRIBUNE, AND THEN COMING TO ST. ALBANS, THERE RECEIVED 
SOME RELICS OF HIS, AND LEFT OTHERS OF THE BLESSED 
APOSTLES, AND OTHER MARTYRS. 

After this, a certain man, who had the quality of a 
tribune, came forward with his wife, and presented his 
blind daughter, ten years of age, for the priests to cure. 
They ordered her to be set before their adversaries, who, 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 33 

being convinced by guilt of conscience, joined their entrea- 
ties to those of the child's parents, beseeching the priests 
that she might be cured. The priests, therefore, perceiv- 
ing their adversaries to yield, made a short prayer, and 
then Germanus, full of the Holy Ghost, invoked the Trinity, 
and taking into his hands a casket with relics of saints, 
which hung about his neck, applied it to the girl's eyes, 
which were immediately delivered from darkness, and filled 
with the light of truth. The parents rejoice, the people 
are astonished at the miracle ; after which, the wicked 
opinions were so fully obliterated from the minds of all, 
that they ardently embraced the doctrine of the priests. 
This damnable heresy being thus suppressed, and the 
authors therepf confuted, and all the people's hearts settled 
in the purity of the faith, the priests repaired to the tomb 
of the martyr, St. Alban, to give thanks to God through 
him. There Germanus, having with him relics of all the 
apostles, and of several martyrs, after oflPering up his 
prayers, commanded the tomb to be opened, that he might 
lay up therein some precious gifts ; judging it convenient, 
that the limbs of saints brought together from several 
countries, as their equal merits had procured them admis- 
sion into heaven, should be preserved in one tomb. These 
being honourably deposited, and laid together, he took up 
a parcel of dust from the very place where the martyr's 
blood had been shed, to carry away with him, which dust 
having retained the blood, it appeared that the slaughter of 
the martyrs had communicated a redness to it, whilst the 
persecutor was struck pale. In consequence of these 
things, an innumerable multitude of people was that day 
converted to the Lord. 



34 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XIX. 

HOW THE SAME HOLY MAN, BEING DETAINED THERE BY AN IN- 
DISPOSITION, BY HIS PRAY^ERS QUENCHED A FIRE THAT HAD 
BROKEN OUT AMONG THE HOUSES, AND WAS HIMSELF CURED 
OF HIS DISTEMPER BY A VISION. 

As they were returning from thence, Germanus fell and 
broke his leg, by the contrivance of the devil, who did not 
know that, like Job, his merits would be enhanced by the 
affliction of his body. Whilst he was thus detained some 
time in the same place, by illness, a fire broke out in a cot- 
tage neighbouring to that in which he was ; and having 
burned down the other houses which were thatched with 
reed, was carried on by the wind to the dwelling in which he 
lay. The people all flocked to the prelate, entreating that 
they might lift him in their arms, and save him from the 
impending danger. He having rebuked them, relying on 
faith, would not suffer himself to be removed. The multi- 
tude, in despair, ran to oppose the conflagration ; however, 
for the greater manifestation of the Divine power, whatso- 
ever the crowd endeavoured to save, was destroyed ; but 
whatever he who was disabled and motionless occupied, the 
flame avoided, sparing the house that gave entertainment 
to the holy man, and raging about on every side of it ; 
whilst the house in which he lay appeared untouched, 
amid the general conflagration. The multitude rejoiced 
at the miracle, and praised the superior power of God. An 
infinite number of the poorer sort watched day and night 
before the cottage ; some to heal their souls, and some 
their bodies. It is impossible to relate what Christ 
wrought by his servant, what wonders the sick man per- 
formed. And he, suffering no medicines to be applied to 
his distemper, one night saw a person in garments as white 
as snow, standing by him, who, reaching out his hand, 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 35 

seemed to raise him up, and ordered him to stand boldly 
upon his feet ; from which time, his pain ceased, and he 
was so perfectly restored, that when the day came on, he, 
without any hesitation, set forth upon his journey. 



CHAPTER XX. 

HOW THE SAME BISHOPS PROCURED THE BRITONS ASSISTANCE FROM 
HEAVEN IN A BATTLE, AND THEN RETURNED HOME. 

In the meantime, the Saxons and Picts, with their united 
forces, made war upon the Britons, who, being thus by fear 
and necessity compelled to take up arms, and thinking 
themselves unequal to their enemies, implored the assist- 
ance of the holy bishops ; who, hastening to them as they 
had promised, inspired so much courage into these fearful 
people, that one would have thought they had been joined 
by a mighty army. Thus, by these holy apostolic men, 
Christ himself commanded in their camp. The holy days 
of Lent were also at hand, and were rendered more religious 
by the presence of the priests, insomuch, that the people 
being instructed by daily sermons, resorted in crowds to be 
baptized ; for most of the army desired admission to the 
saving water ; a church was prepared with boughs for the 
feast of the resurrection of our Lord, and so fitted up in 
that martial camp, as if it were in a city. The army 
advanced, still wet with the baptismal water; the faith 
of the people was strengthened ; and whereas human 
power had before been despaired of, the Divine assistance 
was now relied upon. The enemy received advice of 
the state of the army, and not questioning their success 
against an unarmed multitude, hastened forwards, but their 
approach was, by the scouts, made known to the Britons ; 
the greater part of whose forces being just come from the 

D 2 



36 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

font, after the celebration of Easter, and preparing to arm 
and carry on the war, Germaniis declared he would be their 
leader. He picked out the most active, viewed the country 
round about, and observed, in the way by which the enemy 
was expected, a valley encompassed with hills. In that 
place he drew up his inexperienced troops, himself acting 
as their general. A multitude of fierce enemies appeared, 
whom, as soon as those that lay in ambush saw ap- 
proaching, Germanus, bearing in his hands the standard, 
instructed his men all in a loud voice to repeat his words, 
and the enemy advancing securely, as thinking to take them 
by surprise, the priests three times cried. Hallelujah. A 
universal shout of the same word followed, and the hills 
resounding the echo on all sides, the enemy was struck 
with dread, fearing, that not only the neighbouring rocks, 
but even the very skies, were falling upon them ; and such 
was their terror, that their feet were not sw^ift enough to 
deliver them from it. They fled in disorder, casting away 
their arms, and well satisfied if, with their naked bodies, 
they could escape the danger ; many of them, in their preci- 
pitate and hasty flight, were swallowed up by the river 
which they were passing. The Britons, without the loss of 
a man, beheld their vengeance complete, and became in- 
active spectators of their victory. The scattered spoils 
were gathered up, and the pious soldiers rejoiced in the 
success which heaven had granted them. The prelates thus 
triumphed over the enemy without bloodshed, and gained 
a victory by faith, without the aid of human force ; and, 
having settled the affairs of the island, and restored tran- 
quillity by the defeat, as well of the invisible, as of the 
carnal enemies, prepared to return home. Their own merits, 
and the intercession of the holy martyr, Alban, obtained 
them a safe passage, and the happy vessel restored them in 
peace to their rejoicing people. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 37 



CHAPTER XXL 

THE PELAGIAN HERESY AGAIN REVIVING, GERM ANUS, RETURNING 
INTO BRITAIN WITH SEVERUS, FIRST HEALED A LAME YOUTH, 
THEN HAVING CONDEMNED, OR CONVERTED THE HERETICS, 
THEY RESTORED SPIRITUAL HEALTH TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD. 

Not long after, advice was brought from the same island, 
that certain persons were again attempting to set forth 
and spread abroad the Pelagian heresy. The holy Germa- 
nus was entreated by all the priests, that he would again 
defend the cause of God, which he had before asserted. He 
speedily complied with their request ; and taking with him 
Severus, a man of singular sanctity, who was disciple to the 
most holy father, Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, and afterwards, 
as Bishop of Treves, preached the word of God in the 
adjacent parts of Germany, put to sea, and was calmly 
wafted over into Britain. In the meantime, the wicked 
spirits flying about the whole island, foretold by constraint 
that Germanus was coming, insomuch, that one Elafius, the 
chief of that religion, hastened to meet the holy men, with- 
out having received any certain news, carrying with him his 
son, who laboured under a weakness of his limbs in the 
very flower of his youth ; for the nerves being withered, his 
leg was so contracted that the limb was useless, and he 
could not walk. All the country followed this Elafius. The 
priests arrived, and were met by the ignorant multitude, 
whom they blessed, and preached the word of God to 
them. They found the people constant in the faith as they 
had left them ; and learning that but few had gone astray, 
they found out the authors, and condemned them. Then 
Elafius cast himself at the feet of the priests, presenting 
his son, whose distress was visible, and needed no words to 
express it. All were grieved, but especially the priests, who 
put up their prayers for him before the throne of mercy ; 



38 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

and Germanus, causing the youth to sit down, gently passed 
his heaHng hand over the leg which was contracted ; the 
limb recovered its strength and soundness by the power of 
his touch, the withered nerves were restored, and the youth 
was, in the presence of all the people, delivered whole to 
his father. The multitude was amazed at the miracle, and 
the Catholic faith was firmly planted in the minds of all ; 
after which, they were, in a sermon, warned and exhorted to 
make amends for their errors. By the judgment of all, the 
spreaders of the heresy, who had been expelled the island, 
were brought before the priests, to be conveyed up into 
the continent, that the country might be rid of them, and 
they corrected of their errors. Thus the faith in those parts 
continued long after pure and untainted. All things being 
settled, the blessed prelates returned as prosperously as 
they came. But Germanus, after this, went to Ravenna to 
intercede for the tranquillity of the Armoricans, where, 
being very honourably received by Valentinian and his 
mother, Placidia, he departed to Christ ; his body was 
conveyed to his own city with a splendid retinue, and num- 
berless deeds of charity accompanied him to the grave, 
, Not long after, Valentinian was murdered by 
the followers of Etius, whom he had put to 
death, in the sixth year of the reign of Marcianus, and with 
him ended the empire of the West. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



THE BRITONS, BEING FOR A TIME DELIVERED FROM FOREIGN INVA- 
SIONS, \VASTED THEMSELVES BY CIVIL WARS, AND THEN GAVE 
THEMSELVES UP TO MORE HEINOUS CRIMES. 

In the meantime, in Britain, there was some respite from 
foreign, but not from civil war. There still remained the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 39 

ruins of cities destroyed by the enemy and abandoned; 
and the natives, who had escaped the enemy, now fought 
against each other. However, the kings, priests, private men, 
and the nobihty, still remembering the late calamities 
and slaughters, in some measure kept within bounds ; but 
when these died, and another generation succeeded, which 
knew nothing of those times, and was only acquainted with 
the present peaceable state of things, all the bonds of sin- 
cerity and justice were so entirely broken, that there was 
not only no trace of them remaining, but few persons 
seemed to be aware that such virtues had ever existed. 
Among other most wicked actions, not to be expressed, 
which their own historian, Gildas, mournfully takes no- 
tice of, they added this, that they never preached the 
faith to the Saxons, or English, who dwelt amongst them ; 
however, the goodness of God did not forsake his people, 
whom he foreknew, but sent to the aforesaid nation much 
more worthy preachers, to bring it to the faith. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



HOW POPE GREGORY SENT AUGUSTINE, WITH OTHER MONKS, TO 
PREACH TO THE ENGLISH, AND ENCOURAGED THEM BY A LETTER 
OF EXHORTATION, NOT TO CEASE FROM THEIR LABOUR. 

In the year of our Lord 582, Maurice, the fifty-fourth 
from Augustus, ascended the throne, and reigned twenty- 
one years. In the tenth year of his reign, Gregory, 
a man renowned for learning and behaviour, was pro- 
moted to the apostolical see of Rome, and presided over 
it thirteen years, six months, and ten days. He, being 
moved by Divine inspiration, in the fourteenth year of 
the same emperor, and about the one hundred and 
fiftieth after the coming of the English into Britain, 



40 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

sent the servant of God, Augustine, and with him, several 
other monks, w^ho feared the Lord, to preach the vv^ord 
of God to the Enghsh nation. They having, in ohedience 
to the pope'^s commands, undertaken that work, were, on 
their journey, seized with a sudden fear, and began to 
think of returning home, rather than proceed to a bar- 
barous, fierce, and unbeheving nation, to whose very lan- 
guage they were strangers; and this they unanimously 
agreed was the safest course. In short, they sent back 
Augustine, whom he had appointed to be consecrated 
bishop, in case they were received by the English, that he 
might, by humble entreaty, obtain of the holy Gregory, that 
they should not be compelled to undertake so dangerous, 
toilsome, and uncertain a journey. The pope, in reply, sent 
them a hortatory epistle, persuading them to proceed in the 
work of the Divine word, and rely on the assistance of the 
Almighty. The purport of which letter was as follows : — 

" Gregory, the servant of the servants of God, to the 
servants of our Lord. Forasmuch as it had been better 
not to begin a good work, than to think of desisting from 
that which has been begun, it behoves you (most beloved 
sons) to fulfil the good work, which, by the help of our 
Lord, you have undertaken. Let not, therefore, the toil 
of the journey, nor the tongues of evil speaking men, 
deter you ; but with all possible earnestness and zeal per- 
form that which, by God's direction, you have undertaken ; 
being assured, that much labour is followed by an eternal 
reward. When Augustine, your chief, returns, whom we 
also constitute your abbot, humbly obey him in all things ; 
knowing, that whatsoever you shall do by his direction, will, 
in all respects, be available to your souls. Almighty God 
protect you with his grace, and grant that I may, in the 
heavenly country, see the fruits of your labour. Inasmuch 
as, though I cannot labour with you, I shall partake in the 
joy of the reward, because I am willing to labour. God 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 41 

keep you in safety, my most beloved sons. Dated the lOtli 
of the kalends of August, in the fourteenth year of the reign 
of our pious and most august lord, Mauritius Tiberius, the 

thirteenth year after the consulship of our said 

lord. The fourteenth indiction." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

now HE WROTE TO THE BISHOP OF ARLES TO ENTERTAIN THEM. 

The same venerable pope also sent a letter to Etherius, 
Bishop of Aries, exhorting him to give favourable en- 
tertainment to Augustine on his way to Britain ; which 
letter was in these words : — 

" To our most reverend and holy brother, Etherius, 
fellow bishop, Gregory, the servant of the servants of God. 
Although religious men stand in need of no recommenda- 
tion with priests who have the charity which is pleasing to 
God ; yet, as a proper opportunity is offered to write, we 
have thought fit to send you our letter, to inform you, that 
we have directed thither, for the good of souls, the bearer 
of these presents, Augustine, the servant of God, of whose 
industry we are assured, with other servants of God, whom 
it is requisite that your holiness assist with priestly affec- 
tion, and afford him all the comfort in your power. And 
to the end that you may be the more ready in your assis- 
tance, we have enjoined him particularly to inform you of 
the occasion of his coming ; knowing, that when you are 
acquainted with it, you will, as the matter requires, for the 
sake of God, zealously afford him your relief. We also in 
all things recommend to your charity, Candidus, the priest, 
our common son, whom we have transferred to the govern- 
ment of a small patrimony in our church. God keep you 



42 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

in safety, most reverend brother. Dated the 10th of the 

kalends of August, in the fourteenth year of the reign of 

our most pious and august lord, ^laiu'itius Tiberius, the 

thirteenth year after the consulship of our said 

lord. The fourteenth indiction." 



CHAPTER XXV. 

AUGUSTINE, COMING INTO BRITAIN, FIEST PREACHED IN THE ISLE 
OF THANET TO THE KING OF KENT, AND HAVING OBTAINED 
LICENCE, ENTERED THAT COUNTY IN ORDER TO PREACH THEREIN. 

Augustine, being strengthened by the confirmation of 
the blessed Father Gregory, returned to the work of the 
word of God, with the servants of Christ, and arrived in 
Britain. Ethelbert was at that time the most powerful 
king of Kent, who had extended his dominions as far as 
the great river Humber, by which the Southern-Saxons are 
divided from the Northern. On the east of Kent is the 
large Isle of Thanet, containing, according to the English 
way of reckoning, 600 families, divided from the other 
land by the river Wantsumu, which is about three furlongs 
over, and fordable only in two places, for both ends of it 
run into the sea. In this island landed the servant of our 
Lord, Augustine, and his companions, being as is reported 
nearly forty men. They had, by order of the blessed Pope 
Gregory, taken interpreters of the nation of the Franks, 
and sending to Ethelbert, signified that they were come 
from Rome, and brought a joyful message, w^hich most 
undoubtedly assured all that took advantage of it ever- 
lasting joys in heaven, and a kingdom that would never 
end, with the living and true God. The king, having heard 
this, ordered them to stay in that island where they had 
landed, and that they should be furnished with all neces- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 43 

saries, till he should consider what to do with them. For 
he had before heard of the Christian religion, having a 
Christian wife of the royal family of the Franks, called 
Berta ; whom he had received from her parents, upon con- 
dition that she should be permitted to practise her religion 
with the Bishop Luidhard, who was sent with her to pre- 
serve her faith. Some days after, the king came into the 
island, and sitting in the open air, ordered Augustine and 
his companions to be brought into his presence. For he 
had taken precaution that they should not come to him in 
any house, lest, according to an ancient superstition, if 
they practised any magical arts, they might impose upon 
him, and so get the better of him. But they came fur- 
nished with Divine, not with magic virtue, bearing a silver 
cross for their banner, and the image of our Lord and 
Saviour painted on a board ; and singing the litany, they 
offered up their prayers to the Lord for the eternal salva- 
tion both of themselves and of those to whom they were 
come. Having, pursuant to the king's commands, sat 
down, and preached to him and all his attendants there 
present, the word of life, the king answered thus : — 
" Your words and promises are very fair, but as they are 
new to us, and of uncertain import, I cannot approve of 
them, forsaking that which I have so long followed with 
the whole English nation. But because you are come 
from far into my kingdom, and, as I conceive, are desirous 
to impart to us those things which you believe to be true, 
and most beneficial, we will not molest you, but give you 
favourable entertainment, and take care to supply you with 
your necessary sustenance ; nor do we forbid you by 
preaching to gain as many as you can to your religion." 
Accordingly he permitted them to reside in the city of Can- 
terbury, which was the metropolis of all his dominions, and, 
pursuant to his promise, besides allowing them sustenance, 
did not refuse them liberty to preach. It is reported that, 
as they drew near to the city, after their manner, with the 



44 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

holy cross, and the image of our sovereign Lord and 
King, Jesus Christ, they, in consort, sung this Utany: "We 
beseech thee, O Lord, in all thy mercy, that thy anger and 
wrath be turned away from this city, and from thy holy 
house, because we have sinned. Hallelujah." 



CHAPTER XXVL 

ST. AUGUSTINE IN KENT FOLLOWED THE DOCTRINE AND MANNER 
OP LIVING OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, AND SETTLED HIS EPIS- 
COPAL SEE IN THE ROYAL CITY'. 

As soon as they entered the dwelling-place assigned 
them, they began to imitate the course of life practised 
in the primitive church ; applying themselves to frequent 
prayer, watching and fasting ; preaching the word of life 
to as many as they could ; despising all worldly things, as 
not belonging to them ; receiving only their necessary food 
from those they taught ; living themselves in all respects 
comformable to what they prescribed to others, and being 
always disposed to suffer any adversity, and even to die for 
that truth which they preached. In short, several believed 
and were baptized, admiring the simplicity of their innocent 
life, and the sweetness of their heavenly doctrine. There 
was on the east side of the city, a church dedicated to the 
honour of St. ^Martin, built whilst the Romans were still 
in the island, wherein the queen, who, as has been said 
before, was a Christian, used to pray. In this, they first 
began to meet, to sing, to pray, to say mass, to preach, 
and to baptize, till the king, being converted to the faith, 
granted them leave to preach openly, and build or repair 
churches in all places. When he, atiiong the rest, induced 
by the unspotted life of these holy men, and their delightful 
promises, which, by many miracles, they proved to be most 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 45 

certain, believed and was baptized, greater numbers began 
daily to flock together to hear the word, and, forsaking 
their heathen rites, to associate themselves, by believing, 
to the unity of the church of Christ. Their conversion 
the king so far encouraged, as that he compelled none to 
embrace Christianity, but only showed more affection to 
the believers, as to his fellow-citizens in the heavenly 
kingdom. For he had learned from his instructors and 
leaders to salvation, that the service of Christ ought to be 
voluntary, not by compulsion. Nor was it long before he 
gave his teachers a settled place in his metropolis of Can- 
terbury, with such possessions of different kinds as were 
necessary for their subsistence. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

ST. AUGUSTINE, BEING MADE BISHOP, SENDS TO ACQUAINT POPE 
GREGORY WITH WHAT HAD BEEN DONE, AND RECEIVES HIS 
ANSWER TO THE DOUBTS HE HAD PROPOSED TO HIM. 

In the meantime, Augustine, the man of God, repaired 
to Aries, and, pursuant to the orders received from the 
holy Father Gregory^ was ordained archbishop of the Eng- 
lish nation, by Etherius, archbishop of that city. Then 
returning into Britain, he sent Laurentius, the priest, and 
Peter, the monk, to Rome, to acquaint Pope Gregory, that 
the nation of the English had received the faith of Christ, 
and that he was himself made their bishop. At the same 
time, he desired his solution of some doubts that occurred 
to him. He soon received proper answers to his ques- 
tions, which we have also thought fit to insert in this 
our history : — 

The First Question of Augustine, Bishop of the Church of Canterbury. 
Concerning bishops, how they are to behave themselves 



46 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

towards their clergy, or into how many portions the things 
given by the faithful to the altar are to be divided ; and 
how the bishop is to act in the church ^ 

Gregory ^ Pope of the City of Rome, answers. 

Holy ^vrit, which no doubt you are well versed in, tes- 
tifies, and particularly St. Paul's Epistle to Timothy, 
wherein he endeavours to instruct him how he should 
behave himself in the house of God ; but it is the custom 
of the apostolic see to prescribe rules to bishops newly 
ordained, that all emoluments which accrue, are to be 
divided into four portions — one for the bishop and his 
family, because of hospitality and entertainments ; another 
for the clergy ; a third for the poor ; and the fourth for 
the repair of churches. But in regard that you, my 
brother, being brought up under monastic rules, are not to 
live apart from your clergy in the English church, which, 
by God's assistance, has been lately brought to the faith ; 
you are to follow that course of life which our forefathers 
did in the time of the primitive church, when none of them 
said any thing that he possessed was his own, but all things 
were in common among them. But if there are any clerks 
not received into holy orders, who cannot live continent, 
they are to take wives, and receive their stipends abroad ; 
because we know it is written by the same fathers above- 
mentioned, that a distribution was made to each of them 
according to every one's wants. Care is also to be taken 
of their stipends, and provision to be made, and they are 
to be kept under ecclesiastical rules, that they may live 
orderly, and attend to singing of psalms, and by the help 
of God, preserve their hearts and tongues and bodies from 
all that is unlawful. But as for those that live in common, 
why need we say any thing of making portions, or keeping 
hospitality and exhibiting mercy I inasmuch as all that can 
be spared is to be spent in pious and religious works, 
according to the commands of Him who is the Lord and 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 47 

Master of all, " Give alms of such things as you have, and 
behold all things are clean unto you."" 

Augustine's Second Question. 

Whereas the faith is one and the same, why are there 
different customs in different churches ; and why is one 
custom of masses observed in the holy Roman Church, and 
another in the Galilean Church ? 

Pope Gregory answers. 

You know, my brother, the custom of the Koman 
Church in which you remember you were bred up. But 
it pleases me, that if you have found any thing, either in 
the Roman, or the Gallican, or any other church, which 
may be more acceptable to Almighty God, you carefully 
make choice of the same, and sedulously teach the church 
of the English, which as yet is new in the faith, whatsoever 
you can gather from the several churches. " For things 
are not to be loved for the sake of places, but places for 
the sake of good things." Choose, therefore, from every 
church those things that are pious, religious and upright, 
and having, as it were, made them up in one mass, let the 
minds of the English be accustomed thereto. 

Augustine's Third Question. 

I beseech you to inform me, what punishment must be 
inflicted, if any one shall take any thing by stealth from 
the church ? 

Gregory answers. 

You may judge, my brother, by the person of the thief, 
in what manner he is to be corrected. For there are 
some, who, having substance, commit theft ; and there are 
others, who trangress in this point through want. A^^here- 
fore it is requisite, that some be punished in their purses, 
others with, stripes ; some with more severity, and some 



48 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

more mildly. And when the severity is more, it is to pro- 
ceed from charity, not from passion ; because this is done 
to him who is corrected, that he may not be delivered up 
to hell-fire. For it behoves us to maintain discipline 
among the faithful, as good parents do with their carnal 
children, whom they punish with stripes for their faults, 
and yet design to make those their heirs whom they chas- 
tise ; and they preserve what they possess for those whom 
they seem in anger to persecute. This charity is, there- 
fore, to be kept in mind, and it dictates the measure of 
the punishment, so that the mind may do nothing beyond 
the rule of reason. You may add, that they are to restore 
those things which they have stolen from the church. But, 
God forbid, that the church should make profit from those 
earthly things which it seems to lose, or seek gain out 
of such vanities. 

Augustine's Fourth Question. 

Whether two brothers may marry two sisters, which are 
of a family far removed from them I 

Gregory answers. 

This may lawfully be done ; for nothing is found in Jipjj, 
writ that seems to contradict it. .. .^,c_ 



Augustine's Fifth Question. 

To what degree may the faithful marry with their kin- ^ 
dred; and whether it is lawful for men to marry their^ 
step-mothers, and, relations ? 

. " . "^ Gregory answers. 

A certain worldly law in the Roman commonwealth 
allows, that the son and daughter of a brother and sister, or 
of two brothers, or two sisters, may be joined in matri- 
mony ; but we have found by experience, that no offspring 
can come of such wedlock ; and the Divine law prohibits 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 49. 

"to uncover the nakedness of kindred.'' Hence of neces- 
sity it must be the third or fourth generation of the faith- 
ful, that can be lawfully joined in matrimony ; for the 
second, which we have mentioned, must altogether abstain 
from one another. To have to do with one's stepmother is 
a heinous crime, because it is written in the law, " Thou 
shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father;" now the 
son, indeed, cannot uncover his father's nakedness, but in 
regard that it is written, " They shall be two in one flesh ;" 
he that presumes to uncover the nakedness of his step- 
mother, who was one flesh with his father, certainly un- 
covers the nakedness of his father. It is also prohibited 
to have to do with a sister-in-law, because by the former 
union she is become the brother's flesh. For which thing 
also John the Baptist was beheaded, and ended his life in 
holy martyrdom. For though he w^as not ordered to deny 
Christ, and indeed was killed for confessing Christ, yet 
in regard that the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, said, " I 
am the Truth," because John was killed for the truth, he 
also shed his blood for Clirist. But forasmuch as there 
are many of the English, who, whilst they were still in 
infidelity, are said to have been joined in this execrable 
matrimony, wiien they come to the faith they are to be 
admonished to abstain, and be made to know that this is 
a grievous sin. Let them fear the dreadful judgment of 
God, lest, for the gratification of their carnal appetites, 
they incur the torments of eternal punishment. Yet they 
are not on this account to be deprived of the communion 
of the body and blood of Christ, lest they seem to be 
punished for those things which they did through ignorance 
before they had received baptism. For at this time the 
holy Church chastises some things through zeal, and 
tolerates some through meekness, and connives at some 
things through discretion, that so she may often, by this 
forbearance and connivance, suppress the evil which she 



50 



THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



disapproves. But all that come to the faith are to be 
admonished not to do such things. And if any shall be 
guilty of them, they are to be excluded from the com- 
munion of the body and blood of Christ. For as the 
offence is, in some measure, to be tolerated in those who 
did it through ignorance, so it is to be strenuously pro- 
secuted in those who do not fear to sin knowingly. 

Augustine's Sixth Question. 

Whether a bishop may be ordained without other bishops 
being present, in case there be so great a distance between 
them, that they cannot easily come together ? 

Gregory answers. 

As for the Church of England, in which you are as yet 
the only bishop, you can no otherwise ordain a bishop than 
in the absence of other bishops ; for when do any bishops 
ever come from France, that they may be present as wit- 
nesses to you in ordaining a bishop ? But we would have 
you, my brother, to ordain bishops in such a manner, that 
the said bishops may not be far asunder, to the end, that 
when a new bishop is to be ordained, there be no difficulty, 
but that the other bishops, whose presence is necessary, 
may easily come together. Thus, when, by the help of God, 
bishops shall be so constituted in places every-where near 
to one another, no ordination of a bishop is to be per- 
formed without assembling three or four bishops. For, 
even in spiritual affairs, we may take example by the tem- 
poral, that they may be wisely and discreetly conducted. 
It is certain, that when marriages are celebrated in the 
world, some married persons are assembled, that those who 
went before in the way of matrimony, may also partake in 
the joy of the succeeding couple. Why then, at this spiri- 
tual ordination, wherein, by means of the sacred ministry, 
man is joined to God, should not such persons be assembled, 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 51 

as may either rejoice in the advancement of the new bishop, 
or jointly pour forth their prayers to Almighty God for his 
preservation ? 

Augustine's Seventh Question. 

How are we to deal with the bishops of France and 

Britain I 

Gregory answers. 

We give you no authority over the bishops of France, 
because the Bishop of Aries received the pall in ancient 
times from my predecessor, and we are not to deprive him 
of the authority he has received. If it shall therefore 
happen, my brother, that you go over into the province of 
France, you are to concert with the said Bishop of Aries, 
how, if there be any faults among the bishops, they may be 
amended. And if he shall be lukewarm in keeping up dis- 
cipline, he is to be corrected by your zeal ; to whom we 
have also written, that when your holiness shall be in 
France, he may also use all his endeavours to assist you, 
and put away from the behaviour of the bishops all that 
shall be opposite to the command of our Creator. But 
you of your own authority shall not have power to judge 
the bishops of France, but by persuading, soothing, and 
showing good works for them to imitate ; you shall reform 
the minds of wicked men to the pursuit of holiness ; for it 
is written in the law, " When thou comest into the stand- 
ing corn of thy neighbours, then thou mayest pluck the 
ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle 
unto thy neighbour's standing corn." For thou mayest not 
apply the sickle of judgment in that harvest, which seems 
to have been committed to another ; but by the effect of 
good works thou shalt clear the Lord's wheat of the chaff 
of their vices, and convert them into the body of the 
Church, as it were, by eating. But whatsoever is to be 
done by authority, must be transacted with the aforesaid 
Bishop of Aries, lest that should be omitted, which the 

E 2 



52 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

ancient institution of the fathers has appointed. But as 
for all the bishops of Britain, we commit them to your care, 
that the unlearned may be taught, the weak strengthened 
by persuasion, and the perverse corrected by authority. 

Augustine's Eighth Question. 

Whether a woman with child ought to be baptized ? Or 
how long after she has brought forth, may she come into 
the church ? As also, after how many days the infant 
born may be baptized, lest he be prevented by death ? Or 
how long after her husband may have carnal copulation 
with her ? Or whether it be lawful for her to come into 
the church when she has her courses ? Or to receive the 
holy sacrament of communion ? Or whether a man, who 
has had to do with his wife, may come into the church 
before he has washed with water ? Or approach to receive 
the mystery of the holy communion ? All which things 
are requisite to be known by the rude nation of the 
English. 

Gregory answers. 

I do not doubt but that these questions have been put to 
you, my brother, and I think I have already answered you 
therein. But I believe you would wish the opinion which 
you yourself might give to be confirmed by mine also. 
Why should not a woman with child be baptized, since the 
fruitfulness of the flesh is no offence in the eyes of Almighty 
God I For when our first parents sinned in Paradise, they 
forfeited the immortality which they had received, by the 
just judgment of God. Because, therefore, Almighty God 
would not for their fault wholly destroy the human race, he 
both deprived man of immortality for his sin, and, at the 
same time, of his great goodness, reserved to him the power 
of propagating his race after him. On what account then 
can that which is preserved to the human race, by the free 
gift of Almighty God, be excluded from the privilege of 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 53 

baptism I For it is very foolish to imagine that the gift of 
grace opposes that mystery in which all sin is blotted out. 
When a woman is delivered, after how many days she may 
come into the church, you have been informed by reading 
the Old Testament, viz. that she is to abstain for a male 
child thirty-three days, and sixty-six for a female. Now 
you must know that this is to be taken in a mystery ; for 
if she enters the church the very hour that she is delivered, 
to return thanks, she is not guilty of any sin ; because the 
pleasure of the flesh is in the fault, and not the pain ; but 
the pleasure is in the copulation of the flesh, whereas there 
is pain in bringing forth the child. Wherefore it is said 
to the first mother of all, " In sorrow shalt thou bring 
forth children." If, therefore, we forbid a woman that has 
brought forth, to enter the church, we make a crime of 
her very punishment. To baptize either a woman who has 
brought forth, if there be danger of death, even the very 
hour that she brings forth, or that which she has brought 
forth the very hour it is born, is in no way prohibited, 
because, as the grace of the holy mystery is to be with 
much discretion provided for the living and understanding, 
so is it to be without any delay offered to the dying ; lest, 
while a further time is sought to confer the mystery of 
redemption, a small delay intervening, the person that is 
to be redeemed is dead and gone. Her husband is not to 
have to do with her, till the infant born be weaned. A bad 
custom is sprung up in the behaviour of married people, 
that is, that women disdain to suckle the children which 
they bring forth, and give them to other women to suckle ; 
which seems to have been invented on no other account 
but incontinency ; because as they will not be continent, 
they will not suckle the children which they bear. Those 
women, therefore, who, from bad custom, give their chil- 
dren to others to bring up, must not have to do with their 
Jiusbands till the time of purification is past. For even 



54 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

when there has been no child-birth, women are forbidden 
to have to do with their husbands, whilst they have their 
monthly courses, insomuch that the law condemns to death 
any man that " shall approach unto a woman during her 
uncleanness." Yet the woman, nevertheless, must not be 
forbidden to come into the church whilst she has her 
monthly courses ; because the superfluity of nature cannot 
be imputed to her as a crime ; and it is not just that she 
should be refused admittance into the church, for that 
which she suffers against her will. For we know, that the 
woman who had the issue of blood, humbly approaching 
behind our Lord's back, touched the hem of his garment, 
and her distemper immediately departed from her. If, 
therefore, she that had an issue of blood, might commen- 
dably touch the garment of our Lord, why may not she, 
who has the monthly courses, lawfully enter into the 
church of God ? But you may say, her distemper compelled 
her, whereas these we speak of are bound by custom. 
Consider then, most dear brother, that all we suffer in this 
mortal flesh, through the infirmity of our nature, is or- 
dained by the just judgment of God after the fall ; for to 
hunger, to thirst, to be hot, to be cold, to be weary, is 
from the infirmity of our nature ; and what else is it to 
seek food against hunger, drink against thirst, air against 
heat, clothes against cold, rest against weariness, than to 
procure a remedy against distempers ? Thus to a woman 
her monthly courses are a distemper. If, therefore, it was 
a commendable boldness in her, who in her disease touched 
our Lord's garment, why may not that which is allowed to 
one infirm person, be granted to all women, who, through 
the fault of their nature, are distempered I It must not, 
therefore, be forbidden to receive the mystery of the holy 
communion during those days. But if any one out of pro- 
found respect does not presume to do it, she is to be com- 
mended ; yet if she receives it, she is not to be judged. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 55 

For it is the part of noble minds in some manner to ac- 
knowledge their faults, even where there is no offence ; 
because very often that is done without a fault, which, 
nevertheless, proceeded from a fault. Therefore, when we 
are hungry, it is no crime to eat ; yet our being hungry 
proceeds from the sin of the first man. The monthly 
courses are no crime in women, because they naturally 
happen ; however, because our nature itself is so depraved, 
that it appears to be so without the concurrence of the 
will, the fault proceeds from sin, and thereby human nature 
may herself know what she is become by judgment. And 
let man, who wilfully committed the offence, bear the guilt 
of that offence. And, therefore, let women consider with 
themselves, and if they do not presume, during their 
monthly courses, to approach the sacrament of the body 
and blood of our Lord, they are to be commended for their 
praiseworthy consideration; but when they are carried 
away with love of the same mystery to receive it out of the 
usual custom of religious life, they are not to be restrained, 
as we said before. For as in the Old Testament the out- 
ward works are observed, so in the New Testament, that 
which is outwardly done, is not so diligently regarded as 
that which is inwardly thought, in order to punish it by 
a discerning judgment. For whereas the law forbids the 
eating of many things as unclean, yet our Lord says in 
the Gospel, " Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth 
a man ; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this de- 
fileth a man."" And presently after he added, expounding 
the same, " Out of the heart proceedeth evil thoughts." 
Where it is sufficiently shown, that that is declared by 
Almighty God to be polluted in fact, which proceeds from 
the root of a polluted thought. Whence also Paul the 
apostle says, " Unto the pure all things are pure, but unto 
them that are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure." 
And presently after, declaring the cause of that defilement. 



'^6 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

hma4d3sL;# For even their mind and conscience is defiled." 
If, therefore, meat is not unclean to him who has a clean 
mind, why shall that which a clean woman suffers accord- 
ing to nature, be imputed to her as uncleanness ? A man 
lying with his own wife is not to enter the church unless 
washed with water, nor is he to enter immediately although 
washed. The law prescribed to the ancient people, that a 
m,an whp had had to do with a woman, should be washed with 
w^ter, and not enter into the church before the setting of the 
smi. Which, nevertheless, may be understood spiritually, 
beGa,use a man has to do with a woman when the mind is 
led by the imagination to unlawful concupiscence; for 
uiiless the , fire of concupiscence be first driven from his 
mind, he is not to think himself worthy of the congrega- 
tion of the brethren, whilst he thus indulges an unlawful 
passion. For though several nations have different opinions 
concerning this affair, and seem to observe different rules, 
it was always the custom of the Romans from ancient 
times, after having to do with a man's own wife, to be 
cleansed by washing, and for some time respectfully to for- 
bear entering the church. Nor do we, in so saying, assign 
inatrimony to be a fault, but forasmuch as lawful inter- 
x?ovu^se with one's wife cannot be had without the pleasure 
of the flesh, it is proper to forbear entering the holy place, 
because the pleasure itself cannot be without a fault. For 
he was not born of adultery or fornication, but of lawful 
marriage, who said, " Behold I was conceived in iniquity, 
and in sin my mother brought me forth." For he who 
knew himself to have been conceived in iniquity, lamented 
that he was born from sin, because the tree in its bough 
bears the moisture it drew from the root. In which words, 
however, he does not call the copulation of the married 
couple iniquity, but the pleasure of the copulation. For 
there are many things which are proved to be lawful, and 
yet we, are somewhat defiled in doing them. As very often 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 57 

by being angry we correct faults, and at the same time 
disturb our own peace of mind ; and though that which we 
do is right, yet it is not to be approved that our mind 
should be discomposed. For he who said, " My eye was 
disturbed with anger," had been angry at the vices of those 
who had offended. Now, in regard that only a sedate 
mind can apply itself to contemplation, he grieved that his 
eye was disturbed with anger ; because whilst he was cor- 
recting evil actions below, he was obliged to be withdrawn 
and disturbed from the contemplation of things above. 
Anger against vice is, therefore, commendable, and yet pain- 
ful to a man, because he thinks that by his mind being 
agitated, he has incurred some guilt. The lawful carnal 
copulation must, therefore, be for the sake of children, not 
of pleasure ; and fleshly commerce must be to procure off- 
spring, not to satisfy vices. But if any man makes use of 
his wife, not led by the desire of pleasure, but only for the 
sake of getting children, such a man is certainly to be left 
to his own judgment, either as to entering the church, or 
as to receiving the mystery of the body and blood of our 
Lord, which he, who being placed in the fire cannot bum, 
is not to be forbidden by us to receive. But when, not the 
love of getting children, but pleasure prevails in the work 
of copulation, the pair have cause to lament their having 
to do with one another. For this the holy preaching 
allows them, and yet fills the mind with dread of the 
very allowance. For when Paul the apostle said, " Let 
him that cannot contain, have his wife ;" he presently took 
care to subjoin, " But this I say by way of indulgence, not 
by way of command.'' For that is not granted by way of 
indulgence which is lawful, because it is just ; and, there- 
fore, that which he said he indulged, he showed to be an 
offence. It is seriously to be considered, that when God 
was to speak to the people on Mount Sinai, he first com- 
manded them to abstain- from women. And if so much 



58 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

cleanness of body was there required, where God spoke to 
the people by the means of a subject creature, that those 
who were to hear the words of God, should not have had to 
do with women, how much more ought women, who receive 
the body of Almighty God, to preserve themselves in clean- 
ness of flesh, lest they be burdened with the very greatness 
of that unutterable mystery I For this reason it was said 
to David, concerning his men, by the priest, that if they 
were clean from women, they should receive the shew- 
bread, which they would not have received at all, had not 
David first declared them to be clean from women. Then 
the man, who, after having had to do with his wife, has 
been washed with water, is also capable of receiving the 
mystery of the holy communion, when it is lawful for him, 
according to what has been before declared, to enter the 
church. 

Augustine's Ninth Question. 

Whether, after an illusion, such as happens in a dream, 
any man may receive the body of our Lord, or if he be a 
priest, celebrate the Divine mysteries I 

Gregory answers. 

The testament of the old law, as has been said already 
in the article above, calls such a man polluted, and allows 
him not to enter into the church till the evening after 
being washed with water. Which, nevertheless, spiritual 
people, taking in another sense, will understand in the 
same manner as above ; because he is imposed upon as it 
were in a dream, who, being tempted with filthiness, is 
defiled by real representations in thought, and he is to 
be washed with water, that he may cleanse away the sins 
of thought with tears ; and unless the fire of temptation 
depart before, may know himself to be guilty as it were 
until the evening. But discretion is very necessary in that 
illusion, that one may seriously ^consider what causes it to 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 59 

happen in the mind of the person sleeping ; for sometimes 
it proceeds from excess of eating or drinking ; sometimes 
from the superfluity or infirmity of nature, and sometimes 
from the thoughts. And when it happens, either through 
superfluity or infirmity of nature, such an illusion is not to 
be feared, because it is rather to be lamented, that the 
mind of the person, who knew nothing of it, suffers the 
same, than that he occasioned it. But when the appetite 
of gluttony commits excess in food, and thereupon the 
receptacles of the humours are oppressed, the mind from 
thence contracts some guilt ; yet not so much as to 
obstruct the receiving of the holy mystery, or celebrating 
mass, when a holy-day requires it, or necessity obliges the 
sacrament to be administered, because there is no other 
priest in the place ; for if there be others who can perform 
the ministry, the illusion proceeding from over-eating is 
not to exclude a man from receiving the sacred mystery ; 
but I am of opinion, he ought humbly to abstain from 
offering the sacrifice of the mystery; but not from receiving 
it, unless the mind of the person sleeping has been filled 
with some foul imagination. For there are some, who for 
the most part so suffer the illusion, that their mind, even 
during the sleep of the body, is not defiled with filthy 
thoughts. In which case, one thing is evident, that the 
mind is guilty even in its ow^n judgment, for though it does 
not remembre to have seen any thing whilst the body was 
sleeping, yet it calls to mind that when waking it fell into 
bodily gluttony. But if the sleeping illusion proceeds from 
evil thoughts when waking, then the guilt is manifest to the 
mind ; for the man perceives from whence that filth sprung, 
because what he had knowingly thought of, that he after- 
wards suffered unwittingly. But it is to be considered, 
whether that thought was no more than a suggestion, or 
proceeded to enjoyment, or, which is still more criminal, 
ccmsented to sin. For all sin is fulfilled in three ways, viz. 



60 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

by suggestion, by delight, and by consent. Suggestion is 
occasioned by the devil, delight is from the flesh, and con- 
sent from the mind. For the serpent suggested the first 
offence, and Eve, as flesh, was dehghted with it, but Adam 
consented, as the spirit, or mind. And much discretion is 
requisite for the mind to sit as judge between suggestion 
and delight, and between delight and consent. For if the 
evil spirit suggest a sin to the mind, if there ensue no 
delight in the sin, the sin is in no way committed; but 
when the flesh begins to be delighted, then sin begins to 
grow. But if it deliberately consents, then the sin is 
known to be perfected. The beginning, therefore, of sin is 
in the suggestion, the nourishing of it in delight, but in the 
consent is its perfection. And it often happens that what 
tJbLi@'>^vil spirit sows in thought, the flesh draws to delight, 
and yet the soul does not consent to that delight. And 
whereas the flesh cannot be dehghted without the soul, yet 
the mind struggling against the pleasures of the flesh, is 
somewhat unwillingly tied down by the carnal delight, so 
that through reason it contradicts, and does not consent, 
yet rbeing influenced by delight^ it grievously laments its 
being so bound. Wherefore that principal soldier of our 
Lord's host, sighing, said, " I see another law in my mem- 
bers warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me 
into : ©ia^ptivity to the law of sin,? which is in my members.'' 
Now if he was a captive, he did not fight ; but he did fight, 
therefore he was not a captive; he therefore fought by the 
laiv pfithe mind, which the law that ds in the 'members op^ 
posed ; if he fought so, he was no captive. Thus, then, 
man is, as I may say, a captive and yet free. Free on 
account of justice, which he loves, a captive by the delight 
which he unwilHngly bears within hiKiktiistiaKi oiU us .vh*I 

Thus far the answers 'of -the holy Pope Gregory, to the 
questions of the most reverend prelate, Augustine. The 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 61 

epistle, he says, he had written to the Bishop of Aries, was 
directed to Virgilius, successor to Etherius, the copy 
whereof follows. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



''.■:jnMjfi uvy 



POPE GREGORY WRITES TO THE BISHOP OF ARLES TO ASSIST 
AUGUSTINE IN THE WORK OF GOD. 

" To the most reverend and most holy brother, Virgilius^ 
our fellow bishop, Gregory, servant of the servants of God. 
With how much affection brethren, coming of their own 
accord, are to be entertained, is well known, by their being 
for the most part invited on account of charity. There- 
fore, if our common brother. Bishop Augustine, shall hap- 
pen to come to you, I desire your love will, as is becoming, 
receive him so kindly and affectionately, that he may be 
supported by the honour of your consolation, and others 
informed how brotherly charity is to be cultivated. And, 
since it often happens that those who are at a distance, 
sooner than others understand the things that need correc- 
tion, if any crimes of priests or others shall happen to be 
laid before you, you will, in conjunction with him, sharply 
inquire into the same. And do you both act so strictly 
and carefully against those things which offend God, and 
provoke his wrath, that for the amendment of others, the 
punishment may fall upon the guilty, and the innocent may 
not suffer an ill name. God keep you in safety, most 
reverend brother. Given the 10th day of the kalends of 
July, in the nineteenth year of the reign of our pious and 
august emperor, Mauritius Tiberius, and the eighteenth 
year after the consulship of our said lord. The 
fourth indiction.'V , 



62 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE SAME POPE SENDS AUGUSTINE THE PALL, AN EPISTLE, AND 
SEVERAL MINISTERS OF THE WORD. 

Moreover, the same Pope Gregory, hearing from Bishop 
Augustine, that he had a great harvest, and but few la- 
bourers, sent to him, together with his aforesaid messen- 
gers, several fellow-labourers and ministers of the word, of 
whom the first and principal were Mellitus, Justus, Pauli- 
nus, and Rufinianus, and by them all things in general that 
were necessary for the worship and service of the church, 
viz. sacred vessels and vestments for the altars, also orna- 
ments for the churches, and vestments for the priests and 
clerks, as likewise relics of the holy apostles and martyrs ; 
besides many books. He also sent letters, wherein he 
signified that he had transmitted the pall to him, and at 
the same time directed how he should constitute bishops in 
Britain. The letters were in these words : — 

*' To the most reverend and holy brother, Augustine, our 
fellow bishop, Gregory, the servant of the servants of God. 
Though it be certain, that the unspeakable rewards of the 
eternal kingdom are reserved for those who labour for 
Almighty God, yet it is requisite that we bestow on them 
the advantage of honours, to the end that they may by this 
recompense be enabled the more vigorously to apply them- 
selves to the care of their spiritual work. And, in regard, 
that the new church of the English, is, through the good- 
ness of the Lord, and your labours, brought to the grace 
of God, we grant you the use of the pall in the same, only 
for the performing of the solemn service of the mass ; so 
that you in several places ordain twelve bishops, who shall 
be subject to your jurisdiction, so that the Bishop of Lon- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 63 

don shall, for the future, be always consecrated by his own 
synod, and that he receive the honour of the pall from this 
holy and apostolical see, which I, by the grace of God, now 
serve. But we will have you send to the city of York such 
a bishop as you shall think fit to ordain ; yet so, that if 
that city, with the places adjoining, shall receive the word 
of God, that bishop shall also ordain twelve bishops, and 
enjoy the honour of a metropolitan ; for we design, if we 
live, by the help of God, to bestow on him also the pall ; 
and yet we will have him to be subservient to your autho- 
rity ; but after your decease, he shall so preside over the 
bishops he shall ordain, as to be in no way subject to the 
jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. But for the future 
let this distinction be between the bishops of the cities of 
London and York, that he may have the precedence who 
shall be first ordained. But let them unanimously dispose, 
by common advice and uniform conduct, whatsoever is to 
be done for the zeal of Christ ; let them judge rightly, and 
perform what they judge convenient in a uniform manner. 
But to you, my brother, shall, by the authority of our God, 
and Lord Jesus Christ, be subject not only those bishops 
you shall ordain, and those that shall be ordained by the 
Bishop of York, but also all the priests in Britain ; to the 
end that from the mouth and life of your holiness they may 
learn the rule of believing rightly, and living well, and ful- 
filling their office in faith and good manners, they may, 
when it shall please the Lord, attain the heavenly kingdom. 
God preserve you in safety, most reverend brother. Dated 
the 13th day of the kalends of July, in the nineteenth year 
of the reign of our most pious lord and emperor, Mauritius 
Tiberius, the eighteenth year after the consul- 
ship of our said lord. The fourth indiction." 



64 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XXX. 

A COPY OF THE LETTER WHICH POPE GREGORY SENT TO THE 
ABBOT MELLITUS THEN GOING INTO BRITAIN. 

The aforesaid messengers being departed, the holy 
father, Gregory, sent after them letters worthy to be pre- 
served in memory, wherein he plainly shows what care he 
took of the salvation of our nation. The letter was as 
follows : — 

" To his most beloved son, the Abbot Mellitus, Gregory, 
the servant of the servants of God. We have been much 
concerned, since the departure of our congregation that is 
with you, because we have received no account of the 
success of your journey. When, therefore, Almighty God 
shall bring you to the most reverend Bishop Augustine, our 
brother, tell him what I have upon mature deliberation on 
the affair of the English, determined upon, viz. that the 
temples of the idols in that nation ought not to be de- 
stroyed ; but let the idols that are in them be destroyed ; 
let holy water be made and sprinkled in the said temples, 
let altars be erected, and relics placed. For if those tem- 
ples are well built, it is requisite that they be converted 
from the worship of devils to the service of the true God ; 
that the nation, seeing that their temples are not destroyed, 
may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and 
adoring the true God, may the more familiarly resort to 
the places to which they have been accustomed. And be- 
cause they have been used to slaughter many oxen in the 
sacrifices to de\dls, some solemnity must be exchanged for 
them on this account, as that on the day of the dedication, 
or the nativities of the holy martyrs, whose relics are there 
deposited, they may build themselves huts of the boughs of 
trees, about those churches w^hich have been turned to 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 65 

that use from temples, and celebrate the solemnity with 
religious feasting, and no more offer beasts to the devil, but 
kill cattle to the praise of God in their eating, and return 
thanks to the Giver of all things for their sustenance ; to 
the end that, whilst some gratifications are outwardly per- 
mitted them, they may the more easily consent to the 
inward consolations of the grace of God. For there is no 
doubt that it is impossible to efface every thing at once 
from their obdurate minds ; because he who endeavours to 
ascend to the highest place, rises by degrees or steps, 
and not by leaps. Thus the Lord made himself known to 
the people of Israel in Egypt ; and yet he allowed them 
the use of the sacrifices which they were wont to offer to 
the devil, in his o^vn w orship ; so as to command them in 
his sacrifice to kill beasts, to the end that, changing their 
hearts, they might lay aside one part of the sacrifice, wliilst 
they retained another ; that whilst they offered the same 
beasts which they were wont to offer, they should ofier them 
to God, and not to idols ; and thus they would no longer be 
the same sacrifices. This it behoves your affection to com- 
municate to our aforesaid brother^ that he being there 
present, may consider how he is to order all things. God 
preserve you in safety, most beloved son. Given the 18th 
day of the kalends of June, in the nineteenth year of the 
reign of our lord, the most pious emperor, Mauritius Tibe- , 
rius, the eighteenth year after the consulships 
of our said lord. The fourth indictiomHi TBift 

- iJoJli li^fit XflOli tOl "Bfl! 

— --' ^-^ 7£fu_,iXW -' - ^..ii.>bi> 

CHAPTER.XXXI. 

POPE GREGORY, BY LETTER, EXHORTS AUGUSTINE NOT TO ' 
GLORY IN HIS MIRACLES. 

At which time he also sent Augustine a letter concernir|gi 
the miracles that he had heard had been wrought by him,;* 



66 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

wherein he admonishes him not to incm- the danger of 
being puffed up by the number of them. The letter was in 
these words : — 

" I know, most loving brother, that Almighty God, by 
means of your affection, shows great miracles in the nation 
which he has chosen. Wherefore it is necessary, that you 
rejoice with fear, and be apprehensive in rejoicing, on ac- 
count of the same heavenly gift ; viz. that you may rejoice 
because the souls of the Enghsh are by outward miracles 
drawn to inward grace ; but that you fear, lest, amidst the 
wonders that are wrought, the weak mind may be puffed 
up in its own presumption, and as it is externally raised to 
honour, it may thence inwardly fall by vainglory. For we 
must call to mind, that when the disciples returned with 
joy after preaching, and said to their heavenly Master, 
' Lord, in thy name, even the devils are subject to us;' 
they were presently told, * Do not rejoice on this account, 
but rather rejoice for that your names are written in 
heaven.' For they placed their thoughts on private and 
temporal joys, when they rejoiced in miracles ; but they are 
recalled from the private to the public, and from the tem- 
poral to the eternal joy, when it is said to them, ' Rejoice 
for this, because your names are written in heaven.' For 
all the elect do not work miracles, and yet the names of all 
are written in heaven. For those who are disciples of the 
truth ought not to rejoice, save for that good thing which 
all men enjoy as well as they, and of which their enjoyment 
shall be without end. It remains, therefore, most dear 
brother, that amidst those things, which, through the 
working of our Lord, you outwardly perform, you always in- 
wardly strictly judge yourself, and clearly understand both 
what you are yourself, and how much grace is in that same 
nation, for the conversion of which you have also received 
the gift of working miracles. And if you remember that 
you have at any time offended our Creator, either by word 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 67 

or deed, that you always call it to mind, to the end that 
the remembrance of your guilt may crush the vanity which 
rises in your heart. And whatsoever you shall receive, or 
have received in relation to working miracles, that you con- 
sider the same, not as conferred on you, but on those for 
whose salvation it has been given you." 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

POPE GREGORY SENDS LETTERS AND PRESENTS TO KING 
ETHELBERT. 

The same holy Pope Gregory, at the same time, sent a 
letter to King Ethelbert, with many presents of several 
sorts; being desirous to glorify the king with temporal 
honours, at the same time that he rejoiced that through his 
labour and zeal he had attained the knowledge of the hea- 
venly glory. The copy of the said letter is as follows : — 

" To the most glorious Lord, and his most excellent son, 
Ethelbert, king of the English, Bishop Gregory. To this 
end, Almighty God advances all good men to the govern- 
ment of nations, that he may by their means bestow the 
gifts of his mercy on those over whom they are placed. 
This we know to have been done in the English nation, 
over whom your glory was therefore placed, that by means 
of the goods which are granted to you, heavenly benefits 
might also be conferred on the nation that is subject to you. 
Therefore, my illustrious son, do you carefully preserve the 
grace w^hich you have received from the Divine goodness, 
and hasten to promote the Christian faith, which you have 
embraced, among the people under your subjection ; mul- 
tiply the zeal of your uprightness in their conversion ; sup- 
press the worship of idols ; overthrow the structures of 

F 2 



68 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

the temples ; eclify the manners of your subjects by much 
cleanness of life, exhortmg, terrifying, soothing, correcting, 
and giving examples of good works, that you may find him 
your rewarder in heaven, whose name and knowledge you 
shall spread abroad upon earth. For he also will render 
the fame of your honour more glorious to posterity, whose 
honour you seek and maintain among the nations. For 
even so Constantine, our most pious emperor, recovering 
the Roman commonwealth from the perverse worship of 
idols, subjected the same with himself to our Almighty 
God and Lord Jesus Christ, and was himself, with the 
people under his subjection, entirely converted to him. 
Whence it followed, that his praises transcended the fame 
of former princes ; and he as much excelled his predeces- 
sors in reno\^^l as he did in good works. Now, therefore, 
let your glory hasten to infuse into the kings and people 
that are subject to you, the knowledge of one God, Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost ; that you may both surpass the 
ancient king's of your nation in praise and merit, and be- 
come by so much the more secure against your own sins 
before the dreadful judgment of Almighty God, as you 
shall wipe away the sins of others in your subjects. AVil- 
lingly hear, devoutly perform, and studiously retain in your 
memory, whatsoever you shall be advised by our most 
reverend brother, Bishop Augustine, who is instructed in 
the monastical rule, full of the knowledge of the holy 
Scripture, and, by the help of God, endued with good 
works ; for if you give ear to him in what he speaks for 
Almighty God, the same Almighty God will the sooner 
hear him praying for you. But if (which God avert !) you 
slight his words, how shall Almighty God hear him in your 
behalf, when you neglect to hear him for God? Unite 
yourself, therefore, to him with all your mind in the fervour 
of faith, and further his endeavours, through the assistance 
of that virtue which the Divinity affords you, that he may 
make you partaker of his kingdom, whose faith you cause 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 69 

to be received and maintained in your own. Besides, 
we would have your glory know, we find in the holy Scrip- 
ture from the words of the Almighty Lord, that the end of 
this present world, and the kingdom of the saints, is about 
to come, which will never terminate. But as the same end 
of the world approaches, many things are at hand which 
w^ere not before, viz. changes of air, and terrors from 
heaven, and tempests out of the order of the seasons, wars, 
famines, plagues, earthquakes in several places, which 
things will not, nevertheless, happen in our days, but will 
all follow after our days. If you, therefore, find any of 
these things to happen in your country, let not your mind 
be in any way disturbed ; for these signs of the end of the 
world are sent before, for this reason, that we may be soli- 
citous for our souls, suspicious of the hour of death, and 
may be found prepared with good works to meet our Judge. 
Thus much, my illustrious son, I have said in few w^ords, to 
the end that when the Christian faith shall increase in your 
kingdom, our discourse to you may also be more copious, 
and w^e may be pleased to say the more, in proportion as 
joy for the conversion of your nation is multiplied in our 
mind. I have sent some small presents, which will not 
seem inconsiderable, when received by you with the bless- 
ing of the holy apostle, Peter. May Almighty God, there- 
fore, perfect in you his grace which he has begun, and pro- 
long your life here through a course of many years, and 
after a time receive you into the congregation of the hea- 
venly country. May heavenly grace preserve your excel- 
lency in safety. Given the 10th day of the kalends of 
July, in the nineteenth year of the reign of the most pious 
emperor, Mauritius Tiberius, the eighteenth 
year after his consulship. The fourth indiction."' 



70 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

AUGUSTINE REPAIRS THE CHURCH OF OUR SAVIOUR, AND BUILDS 
THE MONASTERY OF ST. PETER THE APOSTLE ; PETER THE 
FIRST ABBOT OF THE SAME. 

Augustine having his episcopal see granted him in the 
royal city, as has been said, and being supported by the 
king, recovered therein a church, which he was informed 
had been built by the ancient Roman Christians, and con- 
secrated it in the name of our holy Saviour, God and Lord, 
Jesus Christ, and there established a residence for himself 
and his successors. He also built a monastery not far 
from the city to the eastward, in which, by his advice, 
Ethelbert erected from the foundation the church of the 
blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, and enriched it with 
several donations ; wherein the bodies of the same Augus- 
tine, and of all the bishops of Canterbury, and of the kings 
of Kent, might be buried. However, Augustine himself did 
not consecrate that church, but Laurentius, his successor. 
The first abbot of that monastery was the priest Peter, 
who being sent ambassador into France, was drowned in a 
bay of the sea, which is called Amfleat, and privately buried 
by the inhabitants of the place ; but Almighty God, to 
show how deserving a man he was, caused a light to be 
seen over his grave every night : till the neighbours, who 
saw it, perceiving that he had been a holy man that was 
buried there, inquiring who, and from whence he was, car- 
ried a\\ ay the body, and interred it in the church, in the 
city of Boulogne, with the honour due to so great a person. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 71 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

ETHELFRID, KING OF THE NORTHUMBRIANS, HAVING VANQUISHED 
THE NATIONS OF THE SCOTS, EXPELS THEM FROM THE TERRI- 
TORIES OF THE ENGLISH. 

At this time, Ethelfrid, a most worthy king, and ambi- 
tious of honour, governed the kingdom of the Northum- 
brians, and ravaged the Britons more than all the great 
men of the English, insomuch that he might be compared 
to Saul, once king of the Israelites, excepting only this, 
that he was ignorant of the true religion. For he con- 
quered more territories from the Britons, either making 
them tributary, or driving the inhabitants clean out, and 
planting English in their places, than any other king or 
tribune. To whom might justly be applied the saying of 
the patriarch blessing his son in the person of Saul, " Ben- 
jamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning he shall de- 
vour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.'' 
Hereupon, Edan, king of the Scots that inhabit Britain, 
being concerned at his success, came against him with an 
immense and mighty army, but was beaten by an inferior 
force, and put to flight ; for almost all his army was slain 
at a famous place, called Degsastan, that is, Degse-stone. 
In which battle also Theobald, brother to Ethelfrid, was 
killed, with ahnost all the forces he commanded. This 
war Ethelfrid put an end to in the year 603 after the in- 
carnation of our Lord, the eleventh of his own reign, which 
lasted twenty-four years, and the first year of the reign of 
Phocas, who then governed the Roman empire. From that 
time, no king of the Scots durst come into Britain to make 
war on the English to this day. 



THE 

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

OF THE 

ENGLISH NATION. 



BOOK 11. 



CHAPTER I. 

OF THE DEATH OF THE BLESSED POPE GREGORY. 

At this time, that is, in the year of our Lord 605, the 
blessed Pope Gregory, after having most gloriously go- 
verned the Roman apostolic see thirteen years six months 
and ten days, died, and was translated to the eternal see of 
the heavenly kingdom. Of whom, in regard that he by his 
zeal converted our nation, the English, from the power of 
Satan to the faith of Christ, it behoves us to discourse 
more at large in our Ecclesiastical History, for we may 
and ought rightly to call him our apostle ; because, whereas 
he bore the pontifical power over all the world, and was 
placed over the churches already reduced to the faith of 
truth, he made our nation, till then given up to idols, the 
church of Christ, so that we may be allowed thus to attri- 
bute to him the character of an apostle ; for though he is 
not an apostle to others, yet he is so to us ; for we are the 
seal of his apostleship in our Lord. He was by nation a 
Roman, son to Gordian, deducing his race from ancestors 
that were not only noble, but religious. And Felix, once 



THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, ETC. 73 

bishop of the same apostoUcal see, a man of great honour 
in Christ and his church, was his great-grandfather. Nor 
did he exercise the nobihty of religion with less virtue of 
devotion than his parents and kindred. But that worldly 
nobility which he seemed to have, by the help of the Di- 
vine grace, he entirely used to gain the honour of eternal 
digTiity ; for soon quitting his secular habit, he repaired to 
a monastery, wherein he began to behave himself with so 
much grace of perfection, that (as he was afterwards wont 
with tears to testify) his mind was above all transitory 
things; that he despised all that is subject to change; 
that he used to think of nothing but what was heavenly ; 
that whilst detained by the body, he by contemplation 
broke through the bonds of the flesh ; and that he loved 
death, which is a terror to almost all men, as the entrance 
into life, and the reward of his labours. This he said 
of himself, not to boast of his progress in virtue, but 
rather to bewail the decay which, as he was wont to 
declare, he imagined he sustained through the pastoral 
care. In short, when he was, one day, in private, dis- 
coursing with Peter, his deacon, after having enumerated 
the former virtues of his mind, he with grief added, " But 
now, on account of the pastoral care, it is entangled with 
the afiairs of lajmen, and after so beautiful an appearance 
of repose, is defiled with the dust of earthly action. And 
after having wasted itself by condescending to many, when 
it desires the inward things, it returns to them less quah- 
fied to enjoy them. I therefore consider what I endure, I 
consider what I have lost, and when I behold that loss, what 
I bear appears the more grievous." This the holy man said 
out of the excess of his humility. But it becomes us to 
believe that he lost nothing of his monastic perfection 
by his pastoral care, but rather that he improved the more 
through the labour of the conversion of many, than by the 
former repose of his conversation, and chiefly because, 
whilst exercising the pontifical function, he provided to 



74 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

have his house made a monastery. And when first drawn 
from the monastery, ordained to the ministry of the altar, 
and sent legate to Constantinople from the apostolic see, 
though he conversed with the people of the palace, yet he 
intermitted not his former heavenly life ; for some of the 
brethren of his monastery, having out of brotherly charity 
followed him to the royal city, he kept them for the better 
following of regular observances, viz. that at all times 
by their example, as he writes himself, he might be held 
fast to the calm shore of prayer, as it w^ere wath the cable 
of an anchor, whilst he should be tossed up and down by 
the continual waves of worldly affairs ; and daily among 
them, by the intercourse of studious reading, strengthen his 
mind whilst it was shaken with temporal concerns. By 
their company he was not only guarded against earthly 
assaults, but more and more inflamed in the exercises of a 
heavenly life. For they persuaded him to give a mystical 
exposition of the book of holy Job, which is involved in 
great obscurity; nor could he refuse to undertake that 
work, w^hich brotherly affection imposed on him for the 
future benefit of many ; but in a wonderful manner, by five- 
and-thirty books of exposition, taught how that same book 
is to be understood literally ; how to be referred to the 
mysteries of Christ and the church ; and in what sense it 
is to be adapted to every one of the faithful. This work 
he began when legate in the royal city, but finished it at 
Rome after being made pope. Whilst he was in the royal 
city, he, by the assistance of the Divine grace of Catholic 
truth, crushed in its first rise a heresy newly started, con- 
cerning the state of our resurrection. For Eutychius, 
bishop of that city, taught, that our body, in that glory of 
resurrection, w ould be impalpable, and more subtile than 
the wind and air ; which he hearing, proved by force of 
truth, and by the instance of the resurrection of our Lord, 
that this doctrine was every w^ay opposite to the Christian 
faith. For the Catholic faith is that our body, sublimed in 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 75 

the glory of immortality, is rendered subtile by the effect 
of the spiritual power, but palpable by the reality of nature ; 
according to the example of our Lord's body, of which, 
when risen from the dead, he himself says to his disciples, 
" Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, 
as ye see me have."" In asserting which faith, the vener- 
able Father Gregory so earnestly laboured against the rising 
heresy, and by the assistance of the most pious emperor, 
Tiberius Constantine, so fully suppressed it, that none has 
been since found to revive it. He likewise composed an- 
other notable book, called " Liber Pastoralis," wherein he 
manifestly showed what sort of persons ought to be preferred 
to govern the church ; how such rulers ought to live ; with 
how much discretion to instruct every one of then- hearers, 
and how seriously to reflect every day on their own frailty. 
He also wrote forty homilies on the gospel, which he 
equally divided into two volumes ; and composed four books 
of dialogues, into which, at the request of Peter, his dea- 
con, he collected the miracles of the saints whom he either 
knew, or had heard to be most renowned in Italy, for an 
example to posterity to lead their lives ; to the end that, 
as in his books of expositions, what virtues ought to be 
laboured for, so by describing the miracles of saints, he 
might make known the glory of those virtues. He further, 
in twenty-two homilies, discovered how much light there is 
concealed in the first and last parts of the prophet Ezekiel, 
which seemed the most obscure. Besides which, he wrote 
the "Book of Answers," to the questions of Augustine, the 
first bishop of the English nation, as we have shown above, 
inserting the same book entire in his history ; besides the 
useful little " Synodical Book," which he composed with 
the bishops of Italy on the necessary affairs of the church ; 
and also familiar letters to certain persons. And it is the 
more wonderful that he could write so many and such large 
volumes, in regard that almost all the time of his youth, to 
use his own words, he was often tormented with pains in 



76 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

his bowels, and a weakness of his stomach, whilst he was 
continually suffering from slow fever. But whereas at the 
same time he carefully reflected that, as the Scripture tes- 
tifies, " Every son that is received is scourged," the more 
he laboured and was depressed under those present evils, 
the more he assured himself of his eternal salvation. Thus 
much is said of his immortal genius, which could not be 
restrained by such severe bodily pains ; for other popes 
applied themselves to building, or adorning of churches 
with gold and silver, but Gregory was entirely intent upon 
gaining souls. Whatsoever money he had, he diligently 
took care to distribute and give to the poor, that "his 
righteousness might endure for ever, and his horn be exalted 
with honour;" so that what blessed Job said might be 
truly said of him, " When the ear heard me, then it blessed 
me ; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me : 
because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, 
and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him 
that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the 
widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and 
it clothed me ; my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. 
I was the eye to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I 
was father to the poor ; and the cause which I knew not, I 
searched out. And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and 
plucked the spoil out of his teeth." And a little after: 
" If I have withheld,'' says he, " the poor from their desire; 
or have caused the eye of the widow to fail ; or have eaten 
my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten 
thereof. For of my youth compassion grew up with me, 
and from my mother's womb it came forth with me," To 
the works of his piety and righteousness this also apper- 
tains, that he withdrew our nation, by the preachers he 
sent hither, from the teeth of the old enemy, and made it 
partaker of eternal liberty ; in whose faith and salvation 
rejoicing, and worthily commending the same, he in his 
exposition on holy Job, says, " Behold, a tongue of Britain, 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 77 

which only knew how to utter barbarous language, has long 
since begun to resound the Hebrew Hallelujah ! Behold, 
the once swelling ocean now serves prostrate at the feet 
of the saints ; and its barbarous motions, which earthly 
princes could not subdue with the sword, are now, through 
the fear of God, bound by the mouths of priests with words 
only ; and he that stood not in awe of the fighting troops 
of the infidels, now fears the faithful tongues of the humble ! 
For by reason that the virtue of the Divine knowledge is 
infused into it by precepts, heavenly words, and conspicuous 
miracles, it is curbed by the dread of the same Divinity, so 
as to fear to act wickedly, and bends all its desires to 
arrive at eternal glory." In which words holy Gregory 
declares this also, that St. Augustine and his companions 
brought the English to receive the truth, not only by the 
preaching of words, but also by showing of heavenly signs. 
The holy Pope Gregory, among other things, caused masses 
to be celebrated in the churches of the apostles, Peter and 
Paul, over their bodies. And in the celebration of masses, 
he added three words full of great goodness and perfection : 
" And dispose our days in thy peace, and preserve us from 
eternal damnation, and rank us in the number of thy elect, 
through Christ our Lord." 

He governed the church in the days of the emperors 
Mauritius and Phocas, but passing out of this life in the 
second year of the same Phocas, he departed to the true life 
which is in heaven. His body was buried in the church of 
St. Peter the Apostle, before the sacristy, on the 4th 
day of the Ides of March, to rise one day in the same body 
in glory with the rest of the holy pastors of the church. 
On his tomb was written this epitaph : — 

Suscipe, terra, tuo corpus de corpore sumptum, 

Reddere quod valeas, vivificante Deo. 
Spiritus astra petit, lethi nil jura nocebunt, 

Cui vitse alterius mors magis ipsa via est. 



78 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

Pontificis summi hoc clauduntur membra sepulchre. 

Qui innumeris semper vivit ubique bonis. 
Esuriem dapibus superavit, frigora veste, 

Atque animas monitis texit ab hoste sacris. 
Implebatque actu, quicquid sermone docebat, 

Esset ut exemplum, mystica verba loquens. 
Ad Christum Anglos convertit pietate magistra, 

Acquirens fidei agmina gente nova. 
Hie labor, hoc studium, haec tibi cura, hoc pastor agebas, 

Ut Domino offerres plurima lucra gregis. 
Hisque Dei Consul factus, Isetare triumphis. 

Nam mercedem operum jam sine fine tenes. 

In English, thus : — • 

Earth! take that body which at first you gave, 
Till God again shall raise it from the grave. 
His soul amidst the stars finds heavenly day : 
In vain the gates of night can make essay 
On him whose death but leads to life the way. 
To this dark tomb, this prelate, though decreed. 
Lives in all places by his pious deed. 
Before his bounteous board pale Hunger fled ; 
To warm the poor he fleecy garments spread ; 
And to secure their souls from Satan's power, 
He taught by sacred precepts every hour. 
Nor only taught ; but first th' example led, 
Liv'd o'er his rules, and acted what he sai|l. 
To English Saxons Christian truth he taught, 
And a believing flock to heaven he brought. 
This was thy work and study, this thy care. 
Offerings to thy Redeemer to prepare. 
For these to heavenly honours raised on high. 
Where thy reward of labours ne'er shall die. 

Nor is the account of St. Gregory, which has been 
handed down to us by the tradition of our ancestors, to be 
passed by in silence, in relation to his motives for taking such 
care of the salvation of our nation. It is reported, that 
some merchants having just arrived at Rome on a certain 
day, many things were to be sold in the market-place, and 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 79 

abundance of people resorted thither to buy : Gregory him- 
self went with the rest, and, among other things, some boys 
were set to sale, their bodies white, their countenances 
beautiful, and their hair very fine. Having viewed them, 
he asked, as is said, from what country or nation they were 
brought I and was told, from the Island of Britain, whose 
inhabitants were of such personable appearance. He again 
inquired, whether those islanders were Christians, or still 
involved in the errors of Paganism ? and was informed 
that they were Pagans. Then fetching a deep sigh from 
the bottom of his heart, " Alas ! what pity," said he, " that 
the author of darkness is possessed of men of such fair 
countenances ; and that being remarkable for such grace- 
ful aspects, their minds should be void of inward grace." 
He therefore again asked, what was the name of that 
nation ? and was answered, that they were called Angles. 
'• Right," said he, " for they have an angelic face, and it 
becomes such to be coheirs with the angels in heaven. 
What is the name," proceeded he, " of the province from 
which they are brought ?" It was replied, that the natives 
of that province were called Deiri. " Truly are they De iri,'' 
said he, " withdrawn from wrath, and called to the mercy 
of Christ. How is the king of that province called V They 
told him his name was iElla ; and he, alluding to the name, 
said, "Allelujah, the praise of God the Creator must be 
sung in those parts." Then repairing to the bishop of 
the Roman apostolical see, (for he was not himself then 
made pope,) he entreated him to send some ministers of the 
word into Britain to the nation of the Enghsh, by whom it 
might be converted to Christ ; declaring himself ready to 
undertake that work, by the assistance of God, if the apos- 
tolic pope should think fit to have it so done. Which not 
being then able to perform, because, though the pope was 
willing to grant his request, yet the citizens of Rome could 
not be brought to consent that so noble, so renowned, and 
so learned a man should depart the city; as soon as he 



80 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

was himself made pope, he perfected the long-desired work, 
sending other preachers, but himself by his prayers and ex- 
hortations assisting the preaching, that it might be success- 
ful. This account, as we have received it from the ancients, 
we have thought fit to insert in our Ecclesiastical History. 



CHAPTER 11. 

AUGUSTINE ADMONISHED THE BISHOPS OF THE BRITONS TO CA- 
THOLIC PEACE AND UNITY, AND TO THAT EFFECT WROUGHT A 
HEAVENLY MIRACLE IN THEIR PRESENCE ; OF THE VENGEANCE 
THAT PURSUED THEM FOR THEIR CONTEMPT. 

In the meantime, Augustine, with the assistance of King 
Ethelbert, drew together to confer with him, the bishops, 
or doctors, of the next province of the Britons, at a place 
which is to tliis day called Augustine's Ac, that is, Au- 
gustine's Oak, on the borders of the Wiccii and West 
Saxons ; and began by brotherly admonitions to persuade 
them, that preserving Catholic unity with him, they should 
undertake the common labour of preaching the gospel to 
the Gentiles. For they did not keep Easter Sunday at the 
proper time, but from the fourteenth to the twentieth 
moon ; which computation is contained in a revolution of 
eighty-four years. Besides, they did several other things 
which were against the unity of the church. When, after 
a long disputation, they did not comply with the entreaties, 
exhortations, or rebukes of Augustine and his companions, 
but preferred their own traditions before all the churches 
in the world, which in Christ agree among themselves, the 
holy father, Augustine, put an end to this troublesome and 
tedious contention, saying, " Let us beg of God, who 
causes those who are of one mind to live in his Father's 
house, that he will vouchsafe, by his heavenly tokens, to 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 81 

declare to us, which traditiou is to be followed; and by 
what means we are to find our way to his heavenly king- 
dom. Let some infirm person be brought, and let the 
faith and practice of those, by whose prayers he shall be 
healed, be looked upon as acceptable to God, and be 
adopted by all." The adverse party unwillingly consent- 
ing, a blind man of the English race was brought, who 
having been presented to the 'priests of the Britons, 
found no benefit or cure from their ministry; at length, 
Augustine, compelled by real necessity, bowed his knees to 
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying that the lost 
sight might be restored to the blind man, and by the cor- 
poreal enlightening of one man, the light of spiritual grace 
might be kindled in the hearts of many of the faithful. 
Immediately the blind man received sight, and Augustine 
was by all declared the preacher of the Divine truth. The 
Britons then confessed, that it was the true way of righte- 
ousness which Augustine taught ; but that they could not 
depart from their ancient customs without the consent and 
leave of their people. They therefore desired that a 
second synod might be appointed, at which more of their 
number would be present. This being decreed, there came 
(as is asserted) seven bishops of the Britons, and many 
most learned men, particularly from their most noble 
monastery, which, in the English tongue, is called Bancor- 
naburg, over which the Abbot Dinooth is said to have pre- 
sided at that time. They that were to go to the aforesaid 
council, repaired first to a certain holy and discreet man, 
who was wont to lead an eremitical life among them, advis- 
ing with him, whether they ought, at the preaching of 
Augustine, to forsake their traditions. He answered, '^ If 
he is a man of God, follow him.'' *' How shall we know 
that V said they. He rephed, " Our Lord saith, Take my 
yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly 
in heart ; if, therefore, Augustine is meek and lowly of 
heart, it is to be believed that he has taken upon him 



82 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

the yoke of Christ, and offers the same to you to take upon 
you. But, if he is stern and haughty, it appears that he 
is not of God, nor are we to regard his words." They 
insisted again, " And how shall we discern even this?'^ 
'* Do you contrive," said the anchorite, " that he may first 
arrive with his company at the place where the synod is to 
be held, and if at your approach he shall rise up to you, 
hear him submissively, being assm-ed that he is the servant 
of Christ ; but if he shall despise you, and not rise up to 
you, whereas you are more in number ; let him also be 
despised by you." They did as he directed, and it hap- 
pened, that when they came, Augustine was sitting on a 
chair, which they observing, were in a passion, and charging 
him with pride, endeavoured to contradict all he said. He 
said to them, *' You act in many particulars contrary to 
our custom, or rather the custom of the universal church, and 
yet, if you will comply with me in these three points, viz. to 
keep Easter at the due time ; to administer baptism, by 
which we are again born to God, according to the custom 
of the holy Roman Apostolic Church, and jointly with us to 
preach the word of God to the English nation, we will 
readily tolerate all the other things you do, though con- 
trary to our customs." They answered they would do none 
of those things, nor receive him as their archbishop ; for 
they alleged among themselves, that " if he would not now 
rise up to us, how much more will he contemn us, as of no 
worth, if we shall begin to be under his subjection ?" To 
whom the man of God, Augustine, is said, in a threatening 
manner, to have foretold, that in case they would not join 
in unity with their brethren, they should be warred upon 
by their enemies ; and, if they would not preach the way 
of life to the English nation, they should at their hands 
undergo the vengeance of death. All which, through the 
dispensation of the Divine judgment, fell out exactly as he 
had predicted. The warlike king of the Angles, Ethelfrid, 
having raised a mighty army, made a very gi-eat slaughter 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. S3 

of that perfidious nation, at the city of Legions, which by 
the English is called Legacester, but by the Britons more 
rightly Carlegion. Being about to give battle, he observed 
their priests, who were come together to offer up their 
prayers to God for the soldiers, standing apart in a place 
of more safety ; he inquired who they were, or what they 
came together to do in that place ? Most of them were of 
the monastery of Bangor, in which it is reported, there 
was so great a number of monks, that the monastery being- 
divided into seven parts, with a ruler over each, none of 
those parts contained less than three hundred men, who 
were all wont to live by their labour. Many of these hav- 
ing observed a fast of three days, resorted among others to 
pray at the aforesaid battle, having one Brocmal appointed 
for their protector to defend them whilst they were intent 
upon their prayers, against the swords of the barbarians. 
King Ethelfrid being informed of the occasion of their com- 
ing, said, " If then they cry to their god against us, in truth, 
though they do not bear arms, yet they fight against us, 
because they oppose us by their prayers." He, therefore, 
commanded them to be attacked first, and then destroyed 
the rest of the impious army, not without considerable loss of 
his ovm forces. About twelve hundred of those that came 
to pray are said to have been killed, and only fifty to have 
escaped by flight. Brocmal turning his back with his 
men, at the first approach of the enemy, left those whom 
he ought to have defended, unarmed and exposed to the 
swords of the enemies. Thus was fulfilled the prediction 
of the holy Bishop Augustine, though he himself had been 
long before taken up into the heavenly kingdom; that those 
perfidious men might feel the vengeance of temporal death, 
because they had despised the offer of eternal salvation. 



84 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER III. 

HOW ST. AUGUSTINE MADE MELLITUS AND JUSTUS, BISHOPS ; 
AND OF HIS DEATH. 

In the year of our Lord 604, Augustine, Archbishop of 
Britain, ordained two bishops, viz. MeUitus and Justus ; 
Mellitus to preach to the province of the East Saxons, 
who are divided from Kent by the river Thames, and 
border on the East Sea. Their metropolis is the city of 
London, which is situated on the bank of the aforesaid 
river, and is the mart of many nations resorting to it by 
sea and land. At that time, Seberht, nephew to Ethelbert 
by his sister Ricula, reigned over the nation, though he was 
under subjection to Ethelbert, who, as has been said above, 
had command over all the nations of the English as far as 
the river Humber. But when this province also received the 
word of truth, by the preaching of Mellitus, King Ethel- 
bert built the church of St. Paul, in the city of London, 
where he and his successors should have their espiscopal 
see. As for Justus, Augustine ordained him bishop in 
Kent, at the city which the English nation named Rofe- 
cestre, from one that was formerly the chief man of it, 
called R.of. It is almost twenty-four miles distant from 
the city of Canterbury to the westward, and contains a 
church dedicated to St. Andrew, the Apostle. King Ethel- 
bert, who built it, bestowed many gifts on the bishops of 
both those churches, as well as on that of Canterbury, 
adding lands and possessions for the use of those who were 
with the bishops. After this, the beloved of God, Father 
Augustine, died, and his body was deposited without, close 
by the church of the apostles, Peter and Paul, above spoken 
of, by reason that the same w^as not yet finished, nor con- 
secrated, but as soon as it was dedicated, the body was 
brought in, and decently buried in the north porch thereof; 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 85 

wherein also were interred the bodies of all the succeeding 
archbishops, except two only, Theodorus and Berth wald, 
whose bodies are within that church, because the aforesaid 
porch could contain no more. Almost in the midst of this 
church is an altar dedicated in honour of the blessed Pope 
Gregory, at which every Saturday their service is solemnly 
performed by the priest of that place. On the tomb of the 
said Augustine is written this epitaph : 

" Here rests the Lord Augustine, first Archbishop of 
Canterbury, who being formerly sent hither by the blessed 
Gregory, bishop of the city of Rome, and by God's assistance 
supported with miracles, reduced King Ethelbert and his 
nation from the worship of idols to the faith of Christ, and 
having ended the days of his office in peace, died the 7th 
day of the kalends of June, in the r^ign of the same king." 



CHAPTER IV. 



LAURENTIUS AND HIS BISHOPS ADMONISH THE SCOTS TO OBSERVE 
THE UNITY OF THE HOLY CHURCH, PARTICULARLY IN KEEPING 
OF EASTER ; MELLITUS GOES TO ROME. 

Laurentius succeeded Augustine in the bishopric, hav- 
ing been ordained thereto by the latter, in his lifetime, 
lest upon his death, the state of the church, as yet un- 
settled, might begin to falter, if it should be destitute of 
a pastor, though but for one hour. Wherein he also fol- 
lowed the example of the first pastor of the church, that is, 
of the most blessed prince of the apostles, Peter, who, hav- 
ing founded the church of Christ at Rome, is said to have 
consecrated Clement his assistant in preaching the Gospel, 
and at the same time his successor. Laurentius being 
advanced to the degree of an archbishop, laboured inde- 



86 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

fatigably, both by frequent exhortations and examples of 
piety, to raise to perfection the foundations of the church, 
which had been so nobly laid. In short, he not only took 
care of the new church formed among the English, but 
endeavoured also to employ his pastoral solicitude among 
the ancient inhabitants of Britain, as also the Scots, who 
inhabit the island of Ireland, which is next to Britain. 
For when he understood that the course of life and profes- 
sion of the Scots in their aforesaid country, as well as of 
the Britons in Britain, was not truly ecclesiastical, espe- 
cially that they did not celebrate the solemnity of Easter 
at the due time, but thought that the day of the resurrec- 
tion of our Lord was, as has been said above, to be cele- 
brated between the 14th and the 20th of the moon; he 
wrote, jointly with his fellow bishops, an exhortatory epistle, 
entreating and conjuring them to observe unity of peace, 
and conformity with the church of Christ spread through- 
out the world. The beginning of which epistle is as 
follows : — 

" To our most dear brothers, the lords bishops or abbots 
throughout all Scotland, Laurentius, Mellitus, and Justus, 
servants of the servants of God : When the apostolic see, 
according to the universal custom which it has followed 
elsewhere, sent us to these western parts to preach to 
Pagan nations, we came into this island, which is called 
Britain, without possessing any previous knowledge of its 
inhabitants. We held both the Britons and Scots in great 
esteem for sanctity, believing that they had proceeded 
according to the custom of the universal church; but 
coming acquainted with the errors of the Britons, we 
thought the Scots had been better ; but we have been in- 
formed by Bishop Dagan, coming into this aforesaid island, 
and the Abbot Columbanus in France, that the Scots in 
no way differ from the Britons in their behaviour; for 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 87 

Bishop Dagan coming to us, not only refused to eat with 
us, but even to take his repast in the same house where we 
were entertained.'' 

The same Laurentius and his fellow-bishops wrote a 
letter to the priests of the Britons, suitable to his rank, 
by which he endeavoured to confirm them in Catholic 
unity ; but what he gained by so doing the present times 
still declare. 

About this time, Mellitus, Bishop of London, went to 
Rome, to confer with Pope Boniface, about the necessary 
affairs of the English church. And the same most reverend 
pope, assembling a synod of the bishops of Italy, to pre- 
scribe orders for the life and peace of the monks, Mellitus 
also sat among them, in the eighth year of the 
reign of the Emperor Phocas, the thirteenth in- 
diction, on the 8rd day of the kalends of March, to the 
end that he also by his authority might confirm such things 
as should be regularly decreed, and at his return into 
Britain might carry the same to the churches of the Eng- 
lish, to be prescribed and observed ; together with letters 
which the same pope sent to the beloved of God, Arch- 
bishop Laurentius, and to all the clergy ; as likewise to 
King Ethelbert and the English nation. This pope was 
Boniface, who came fourth after Pope Gregory, and who 
obtained of the Emperor Phocas that the temple called by 
the ancients Pantheon, as representing all the gods, should 
be given to the Church of Christ ; wherein he, having 
purified it from contamination, dedicated a church to the 
Holy Mother of God, and to all Christ's martyrs, to the 
end that, the devils being excluded, the blessed company 
of the saints might have therein a perpetual memorial. 



88 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER V. 

HOW^, AFTER THE DEATH OF THE KINGS ETHELBERT AND SEBERHT, 
THEIR SUCCESSORS RESTORED IDOLATRY ; FOR WHICH REASON, 
BOTH MELLITUS AND JUSTUS DEPARTED OUT OF BRITAIN. 

In the year of our Lord's incarnation 613, which is the 
twenty-first year after Augustine and his companions were 
sent to preach to the EngUsh nation, Ethelbert, King of 
Kent, having most gloriously governed his temporal kingdom 
fifty- six years, entered into the eternal joys of the kingdom 
which is heavenly. He was the third of the English kings 
that had the sovereignty of all the southern provinces that 
are divided from the northern by the river Humber, and 
the borders contiguous to the same ; but the first of the 
kings that ascended to the heavenly kingdom. The first 
who had the like sovereignty was Elli, King of the South 
Saxons ; the second, Celin, King of the West Saxons, who, 
in their own language, is called Ceaulin ; the third, as has 
been said, was Ethelbert, King of Kent ; the fourth was 
Redwald, King of the East Angles, who, whilst Ethelbert 
lived, had been subservient to him. The fifth was Edwin, 
King of the nation of the Northumbrians, that is, of those 
who live on the north side of the river Humber, who, with 
great power, commanded all the nations, as well of the 
English as of the Britons who inhabit Britain, except only 
the people of Kent, and he reduced also under the domi- 
nion of the English the Mevanian islands of the Britons, 
lying between Ireland and Britain ; the sixth was Oswald, 
the most Christian King of the Northumbrians, who also 
had the same extent under his command ; the seventh, 
Oswi, brother to the former, held the same dominions for 
some time, and for the most part subdued and made tribu- 
tary the nations of the Picts and Scots, which possess the 
northern parts of Britain : but of these hereafter. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 89 

King Ethelbert died on the 24th day of the month of 
February, twenty-one years after he had received the faith, 
and was buried in St. Martin's porch within the church of 
the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, where also lies his 
queen, Bertha. Among other benefits which he conferred 
upon the nation, he also, by the advice of wise persons, 
introduced among them the Roman laws ; which being 
written in the English tongue, are still kept and observed 
by them. Among which, he in the first place- set down 
what satisfaction should be given by those who should steal 
any thing belonging to the church, the bishop, or the other 
clergy, resolving to give protection to those whose doctrine 
he had embraced. 

This Ethelbert was the son of Irminric, whose father was 
Octa, whose father was Oeric, surnamed Oisc, from whom 
the kings of Kent are wont to be called Oiscings. His 
father was Hengist, who, being invited by Vortigern, first 
came into Britain, with his son Oisc, as has been said 
above. But after the death of Ethelbert, his son Eadbald 
ascending the throne, proved very prejudicial to the new 
church ; for he not only refused to embrace the faith of 
Christ, but was also defiled with such a sort of fornication, 
as the apostle testifies, was not heard of, even among the 
Gentiles ; for he kept his father's wife. By both which 
crimes he gave occasion to those to return to their former 
uncleanness, who, under his father, had either for favour, 
or through fear of the king, submitted to the laws of faith 
and chastity. Nor did the perfidious king escape without 
Divine punishment and correction; for he was troubled 
with frequent fits of madness, and possessed by an evil 
spirit. This confusion was increased by the death of Se- 
berht, king of the East Saxons, who, departing to the hea- 
venly kingdom, left three sons, still Pagans, to inherit his 
temporal crown. They immediately began to profess idola- 
try, which, during their father's reign, they had seemed a 



90 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

little to abandon, and they granted free liberty to the 
people under their government to serve idols. And when 
they saw the bishop, whilst celebrating mass in the church, 
give the eucharist to the people, they, puffed up with barba- 
rous folly, were wont, as it is reported, to say to him, '' Why 
do you not give us also that white bread, which you used 
to give to our father Saba, (for so they used to call him,) 
and which you still continue to give to the people in the 
church." To whom he answered, " If you will be washed 
in that laver of salvation, in which your father was washed, 
you may also partake of the holy bread of which he par- 
took ; but if you despise the laver of life, you may not 
receive the bread of life." They replied, " We will not 
enter into that laver, because we do not know that we 
stand in need of it, and yet we will eat of that bread.'" 
And being often earnestly admonished by him, that the 
same could not be done, nor any one admitted to partake 
of the sacred oblation without the holy cleansing, at last, 
they said in anger, *' If you will not comply with us in so 
small a matter as that is which we require, you shall not 
stay in our province." And accordingly they obliged him 
and his to depart from their kingdom. Being forced 
from thence, he came into Kent, to advise with his fellow 
bishops, Laurentius and Justus, what was to be done in 
that case ; and it was unanimously agreed, that it was 
better for them all to return to their own country, where 
they might serve God in freedom, than to continue without 
any advantage among those barbarians, who had revolted 
from the faith. Mellitus and Justus accordingly went away 
first, and withdrew into France, designing there to wait the 
event of things. But the kings, who had driven from them 
the preacher of truth, did not continue long unpunished in 
their heathen worship. For marching out to battle against 
the na^tion of the Gevissi, they were all slain with their army. 
However, the people having been once turned to wicked- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 91 

ness, though the authors of it were destroyed, would not be 
corrected, nor return to the unity of faith and charity 
which is in Christ. 



CHAPTER VI. 

LAURENTIUS, BEING REPROVED BY THE APOSTLE, CONVERTS KING 
EADBALD TO CHRIST ; MELLITUS AND JUSTUS ARE RECALLED. 

Laurentius being about to follow Melhtus and Justus, 
and to quit Britain, he ordered his bed to be laid the night 
before in the church of the blessed apostles, Peter and 
Paul, which has been often mentioned before; wherein 
having laid himself to take some rest, after he had poured 
out many prayers and tears to God for the state of the 
Church, he fell asleep ; in the dead of night, the blessed 
prince of the apostles appeared to him, and scourging him 
a long time with apostolical severity, asked of him, " Why 
he would forsake the flock wdiich he had committed to him, 
or to what shepherds he would commit Christ's sheep that 
were in the midst of wolves 1 Have you," said he, " for- 
gotten my example, who, for the sake of those little ones, 
whom Christ recommended to me in token of his affection, 
underwent at the hands of infidels and enemies of Christ, 
bonds, stripes, imprisonment, afflictions, and lastly, the 
death of the cross, that I might at last be crowned with 
him V Laurentius, the servant of Christ, being excited by 
these words and stripes, the very next morning repaired to 
the king, and taking off his garment, showed the scars of 
the stripes which he had received. The king astonished, 
asked, " Who had presumed to give such stripes to so 
great a man ?" And was much frightened when he heard 
that the bishop had suffered so much at the hands of the 
apostle of Christ for his salvation. Then abjuring the 



92 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

worship of idols, and renouncing his unlawful marriage, he 
embraced the faith of Christ, and being baptized, promoted 
the affairs of the Church to the utmost of his power. He 
also sent over into France, and recalled Mellitus and Justus, 
and commanded them freely to return to govern their 
churches, which they accordingly did, one year after their 
departure. Justus, indeed, returned to the city of Roches- 
ter, where he had before presided; but the Londoners 
would not receive Bishop Mellitus, choosing rather to be 
under their idolatrous high priests ; for King Eadbald had 
not so much authority in the kingdom as his father, nor 
was he able to restore the bishop to his church against the 
will and consent of the Pagans. But he and his nation, 
after his conversion to our Lord, diligently followed the 
Divine precepts. Lastly, he built the church of the holy 
IMother of God, in the monastery of the most blessed prince 
of the apostles, which was afterwards consecrated by Arch- 
bishop Mellitus. 



CHAPTER VIL 

BISHOP MELLITUS BY PRAYEK QUENCHES A FIRE IN HIS CITY. 

In this king's reign, the holy Archbishop Laurentius was 
taken up to the heavenly kingdom, and was buried in the 
church and monastery of the holy apostle Peter, 
close by his predecessor Augustine, on the 4th 
day of the Nones of February. Mellitus, who was Bishop 
of London, was the third Archbishop of Canterbury from 
Augustine; Justus, who was still living, governed the 
church of Rochester. These ruling the Church of the 
English with much industry and labour, received letters of 
exhortation from Boniface, bishop of the Roman apostolic 
see, who presided over the Church after Deusdedit, in the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 93 

year of our Lord 619. Mellitus laboured under an infir- 
mity of body, that is, the gout ; but his mind was sound, 
cheerfully passing over all earthly things, and always aspir- 
ing to love, seek, and attain to those which are celestial. 
He was noble by birth, but much nobler in mind. In 
short, that I may give one testimony of his virtue, by 
which the rest may be guessed at, it happened once that 
the city of Canterbury, being by carelessness set on fire, was 
in danger of being consumed by the spreading conflagra- 
tion ; water was thrown over the fire in vain ; a consider- 
able part of the city was already destroyed, and the fierce 
flame advancing towards the bishop, when he, confiding in 
the Divine assistance, where human failed, ordered himself 
to be carried towards the raging fire, that was spreading 
on every side. The church of the four cro\^^led Martyrs 
was in the place where the fire raged most. The bishop 
being carried thither by his servants, the sick man averted 
the danger by prayer, which a number of strong men had 
not been able to perform by much labour. Immediately, 
the wind, which blowing from the south had spread the 
conflagration throughout the city, turning to the north, 
prevented the destruction of those places that had lain in 
its way, and then ceasing entirely, the flames were imme- 
diately extinguished. And thus, this man of God, whose 
mind was inflamed with the fire of Divine charity, and who 
was w^ont to drive away the powers of the air by his fre- 
quent prayers, from doing harm to himself, or his people, 
was deservedly allowed to prevail over the worldly winds 
and flames, and to obtain that they should not injure him 
or his. This archbishop also, having ruled the Church five 
years, departed to heaven in the reign of King Eadbald, 
and w^as buried with his predecessors in the monastery and 
church, which w^e have so often mentioned, of the most 
blessed prince of the apostles, in the year of our Lord's 
incarnation 624, on the 8th day of the kalends of May. 



94 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER VIII. 

POPE BONIFACE SENDS THE PALL AND AN EPISTLE TO JUSTUS, 
SUCCESSOR TO MELLITUS. 

Justus, Bishop of Rochester, immediately succeeded 
MelUtus in the archbishopric. He consecrated Romanus 
bishop of that see in his own stead, having obtained leave 
of ordaining bishops from Pope Boniface, whom we men- 
tioned above to have been successor to Deusdedit : of 
which licence this is the form : 

" Boniface, to his most beloved brother Justus : Not 
only the contents of your letter, but the perfection which 
your work has obtained, has informed us how devoutly and 
diligently you have laboured, my brother, for the gospel of 
Christ ; for Almighty God has not forsaken either the 
mystery of his name, or the fruit of your labours, having 
himself faithfully promised to the preachers of the gospel, 
' Lo ! I am with you alway even unto the end of the 
world ; ' which promise his mercy has particularly mani- 
fested in this ministry of yours, opening the hearts of 
nations to receive the mystery of your preaching. For he 
has enlightened the acceptable course of your endeavours, 
by the approbation of his grace ; granting a plentiful in- 
crease to your faithful management of the talents com- 
mitted to you, and w^hich you may secure for many genera- 
tions. This is by that reward conferred on you, who, con- 
stantly adhering to the ministry enjoined you, with laudable 
patience await the redemption of that nation, and their 
salvation is set on foot that they may profit by your merits, 
our Lord himself saying, ' He that perseveres to the end 
shall be saved.' You are, therefore, saved by the hope of 
patience, and the virtue of endurance, to the end that the 
hearts of infidels, being cleansed from their natural and 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 95 

superstitious disease, might obtain the mercy of their Re- 
deemer : for having received the letters of our son ^thel- 
wald, we perceive with how much knowledge of the sacred 
word your mind, my brother, has brought over his mind to 
the belief in real conversion and the true faith. Therefore, 
firmly confiding in the long-suffering of the Divine cle- 
mency, we believe there will, through the ministry of your 
preaching, ensue most full salvation, not only of the nations 
subject to him, but also of those that neighbour round 
about ; to the end, that as it is written, * The reward of 
a perfect work may be conferred on you by our Lord, the 
giver of all good things;' and that the universal confession 
of all nations, having received the mystery of the Christian 
faith, may declare, that their ' Sound went into all the 
earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.' We 
have also, my brother, by the bearer hereof, being en- 
couraged so to do by your industrious goodness, sent you the 
pall, which we have only given leave to use in the celebra- 
tion of the sacred mysteries ; granting you likewise to 
ordain bishops when there shall be occasion, through the 
mercy of our Lord; that so, the gospel of Christ, by the 
preaching of many, may be spread abroad in all the nations 
that are not yet converted. You must, therefore, endea- 
vour, my brother, to preserve with unblemished sincerity 
of mind, that which you have received through the favour 
of the apostolic see, as an emblem whereof you have 
obtained so principal an ornament to be borne on your 
shoulders. And make it your business, imploring the 
Divine goodness, so to behave yourself, that you may pre- 
sent before the tribunal of the Supreme that is to come, the 
rewards of the favour granted you, not only with righteous- 
ness, but with the benefit of souls. God preserve you in 
safety, most dear brother !" 



96 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE REIGN OF KING EDWIN, AND HOW PAULINUS, COMING t8^ 
PREACH THE GOSPEL, FIRST CONVERTED HIS DAUGHTER AN^^ 
OTHERS TO THE FAITH OF CHRIST. '7fTU[/q 

At this time the nation of the Northumbrians,!: 
that is, the nation of the Angles, that live on 
the north side of the river Humber, with their king Edwin, 
received the faith, through the preaching of Paulinus, 
above mentioned. This Edwin, as a reward of his receiving , 
the faith, and as an earnest of his share in the heavenly 
kingdom, received an increase of that which he enjoyed on^' 
earth, for he reduced under his dominion all the borders of 
Britain that were provinces either of the aforesaid nation, 
or of the Britons, a thing which n^ British king had ever^ 
done before ; and he in like manner subjected to the Eng- ' 
lish the Mevanian islands, as has been said above. The, 
first whereof, which is to the southward, is the largest iii, 
extent, and most fruitful, containing nine hundred and sixty 
families, according to the English computation ; the other ^ 
above tln-ee huncbed. The occasion of this nation'*s em- 
bracing the faith was, their aforesaid king being allied to the * 
kings of Kent, having taken to wife Edelburga, otherwise 
called Tate, daughter to King Ethelbert. He having by 
his ambassadors asked her in marriage of her brother Ea|d- 
bald, who then reigned in Kent, was answered, " That^t 
was not lawfid to marry a Christian virgin to a Pagaii hiis-^ 
band, lest the faith and the mysteries of the heavenly King ' 
should be profaned by her cohabiting wdth a king that was 
altogether a stranger to the w^orship of the true God." This"' 
answer being brought to Edwin by his messengers, he 
promised in no maimer to act in opposition to the Christian a 
faith, winch the virgin professed ; but would ffive . leave, to 
n^ ,^Ei,q ajUj that weat jvijbhj her, -men or women, pmestsi or 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 97 

ministers, to follow their faith and worship after the custom 
of the Christians. Nor did he deny, but that he would 
embrace the same religion, if, being examined by wise per- 
sons, it should be found more holy and more worthy of God. 
Hereupon the virgin was promised, and sent to Edwin, and 
pursuant to what had been agreed on, Paulinus, a man be- 
loved of God, was ordained bishop, to go with her, and by 
daily exhortations, and celebrating the heavenly mysteries, 
to confirm her, and her company, lest they should be cor- 
rupted by the company of the Pagans. Paulinus was 
ordained bishop by the Archbishop Justus, on the 12th of 
the kalends of August, in the year of our Lord 625, and 
so he came to King Edwin with the aforesaid virgin, as a 
companion of their union in the flesh. But his mind was 
wholly bent upon reducing the nation to which he was sent 
to the knowledge of truth; according to the words of the 
Apostle, " To espouse her to one husband, that he might 
present her as a chaste virgin to Christ." Being come into 
that province, he laboured much, not only to retain those 
that went with him, by the help of God, that they should 
not revolt from the faith, but, if he could, to convert some 
of the Pagans to a state of grace by his preaching. But, 
as the Apostle says, though he laboured long in the word, 
" The God of this world blinded the minds of them that 
believed not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ 
should shine unto them." 

The next year, there came into the province a certain 
assassin, called Eumer, sent by the king of the West 
Saxons, whose name was Quichelm, in hopes at once to 
deprive King Edwin of his kingdom and his life. He had 
a two-edged dagger, dipped in poison, to the end, that if 
the wound were not sufficient to kill the king, it might be 
performed by the venom. He came to the king;' 
'on the first day of Easter, at the river Doru- 
vention, where then stood the regal city, and being admitted 
as if to deliver a message from his master, whilst he was 

H 



98 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

in an artful manner delivering his pretended embassy, 
he started on a sudden, and drawing the dagger under 
his garment, assaulted the king; which Lilla, the king's 
most beloved minister, observing, having no buckler at hand 
to secure the king from death, he interposed his own body 
to receive the stroke ; but the wretch struck so home, that 
he wounded the king through the knight's body. Being 
then attacked on all sides with swords, he in that confusion 
also slew another knight, whose name was Forther. On that 
same holy night of Easter Sunday, the queen had brought 
forth to the king a daughter, called Eanfled. The king, in 
the presence of the Bishop Paulinus, giving thanks to his 
gods for the birth of his daughter ; the bishop, on the other 
hand, returned thanks to Christ, and endeavoured to per- 
suade the king, that by his prayers to him he had obtained, 
that the queen should bring forth the child in safety, and 
without much pain. The king, delighted with his words, 
promised, that in case God would grant him life and victory 
over the king by whom the assassin had been sent, he 
w^ould cast off his idols, and serve Christ ; and in earnest 
that he would perform his promise, he delivered up that same 
daughter to Paulinus, to be consecrated to Christ. She 
was the first baptized of the nation of the Northumbrians, 
on Whitsunday, with twelve others of her family. At that 
time, the king being recovered of the wound which he had 
received, marched with his army against the nation of the 
West Saxons ; and having begun the war, either slew or 
subdued all those that he had been informed had conspired 
to murder him. Returning thus victorious into his ow^n 
country, he would not immediately and unadvisedly embrace 
the mysteries of the Christian faith, though he no longer 
worshipped idols, ever since he made the promise that he 
would serve Christ ; but thought fit first at leisure to be 
instructed, by the venerable Paulinus, in the knowledge of 
faith, and to confer w^ith such as he knew to be the wisest 
of his prime men, to advise what they thought w^as fittest 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 99 

to be done in that case. And being a man of extraordinary 
sagacity, he sat alone by himself a long time, silent as to 
his tongue, but deliberating in his heart how he should 
proceed, and which religion he should adhere to. 



CHAPTER X. 

POPE BONIFACE, BY LETTER, EXHORTS THE SAME KING TO 
EMBRACE THE FAITH. 

At that time. King Edwin received letters 
A.D. 625. . 

from Pope Boniface, exhorting him to embrace 

the faith, which were as follows : — 

" To the illustrious Edwin, king of the Angles, Bishop 
Boniface, the servant of the servants of God: Although 
the power of the Supreme Deity cannot be expressed by 
human speech, as consisting in its own greatness, and in 
invisible and unsearchable eternity, so that no sharpness of 
wit can comprehend or express it ; yet, in regard that the 
goodness of God, to give some notion of itself, having opened 
the doors of the heart, has mercifully, by secret inspiration, 
infused into the minds of men such things as he is willing 
shall be declared concerning himself, we have thought fit 
to extend our priestly care to make known to you the 
fulness of the Cliristian faith ; to the end that, informing 
you of the gospel of Christ, which our Saviour commanded 
should be preached to all nations, they might offer to you 
the cup of life and salvation. 

" Thus the goodness of the supreme Majesty, which by 
the word of his command made and created all things, the 
heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, dispos- 
ing the order by which they should subsist, hath, with the 
counsel of his coeternal word, and the unity of the Holy 

h2 



100 THE ECCLESMSXICAL HISTORY 

Bpktttj' formed man after his own likeness, out of the shme 
of the earth ; and granted him such supereminent preroga- 
tive, as to place him above all others ; so that, observing the 
command which was given him, his continuance should be 
to eternity. This God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, which 
is an undivided Trinity, mankind, from the east^ unto the 
west, by confession of faith to the savmg of their souls, do 
worship and adore, as the creator of all things, and their 
own maker ; to whom also the heights of empire, and the 
powers of the world, are subject, because the bestowal of all 
kingdoms is granted by his disposition. It hath pleased 
him, therefore, of his great mercy, and for the greater 
benefit of all his creatures, by his Holy Spirit wonderfully 
to kindle the cold hearts of the nations seated at the extre- 
cnities of the earth in the knowledge of himself. We sup- 
pose yom- excellency has, from the comitry lying so near, 
fully understood what the clemency of our Redeemer has 
effected in the enlightening of our glorious son, King Ead- 
bald, and the nations under his subjection ; we therefore 
trust, with assured confidence of celestial hope, that his 
wonderful gift will be also conferred on you; since we 
understand that your illustrious consort, which is known to 
be a part of your body, is illuminated with the reward of 
eternity, through the regeneration of holy baptism. We 
have, therefore, taken care by these presents, with all 
possible affection, to exhort your illustrious selves, that, 
abhorring idols and their worship, and contemning the 
follies of temples, and the deceitful flatteries of auguries, 
you believe in God the Father Almighty, and his Son Jesus 
Christ, and the Holy Ghost, to the end that, being dis- 
charged from the bonds of captivity to the devil, by behov- 
ing you may, through the co-operating power of the holy 
and undivided Trinity, be partaker of the eternal life. How 
great guilt they lie under, who adhere to the pernicious 
superstitions and worship of idolatry, appears by the exani- 
pte of the perdition of those whom they worship . Wher^ 



OP THE ENGLISfi^ NATION. 101 

M«^it is said of them by the Psalmist, * AH the gods xjf 
the Gentiles are devils, but the Lord made the heavens.' 
And again, ' They have eyes and do not see, they have ears 
and do not hear, they have noses and do not smell, they 
have hands and do not feel, they have feet and do not walM 
Therefore they are like those that confide in them.' FS 
how can they have any power to yield assistance, that aF(§ 
made for you out of corruptible matter, by the hands of 
your inferiors and subjects, to wit, on whom you have by 
human art bestowed an inanimate similitude of membersf 
Who, unless they be moved by you, will not be able^^ti 
walk ; but, like a stone fixed in one place, being so forme^dl 
and having no understanding, but absorbed in insensibilityl 
have no power of doing harm or good. We cannot, ihere^ 
fore, upon mature deliberation, find out how you come to 
be so deceived as to follow and worship those gods, to whom 
you yourselves have given the likeness of a body. It behoves 
you, therefore, by taking upon you the sign of the holy 
cross, by which the human race is redeemed, to root out of 
your hearts all those arts and cunning of the devil, who is 
ever jealous of the works of the divine goodness, and to lay 
hold and break in pieces those which you have hitherto 
made your material gods. For the very destruction and 
abolition of these, which could never receive life or sense 
from their makers, may plainly demonstrate to you how 
wortliless they were which you till then had worshipped^ 
wheii you yourselves, who have received life from the Lord;, 
are certainly better than they, as Almighty God has apr 
pointed you to be descended, after many ages and tlirougli 
many descents, from the first man whom he formed. Dr4w 
near, then, to the knowledge of Him who created you, who 
breathed the breath of life into you, who sent his onlyr 
begotten Son for your redemption, to cleanse you from 
original sin, that being delivered from the power of th^ 
devil's wickedness, he might bestow on you a h^avejily 
reward. Hear the words of the preachers^ and the gospql 



102 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

of God, which they declare to you, to the end that, believ- 
ing, as has been said, in God the Father Almighty, and in 
Jesus Christ his Son, and the Holy Ghost, and the indivi- 
dual Trinity, having put to flight the sensualities of devils, 
and driven from you the suggestions of the venomous and 
deceitful enemy, and being born again by water and the 
Holy Ghost, you may, through his assistance and bounty, 
dwell, in the brightness of eternal glory, with Him in whom 
you shall believe. We have moreover sent you the blessing 
of your protector, the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, 
that is, a shirt, with one gold ornament, and one garment 
of Ancyra, which we pray your highness to accept with the 
game good-will a^ it is friendly intended by us." 



CHAPTER XL 

POPE BONIFACE ADVISES QUEEN ETHELBUKGA TO USE HER BEST EN- 
DEAVOURS FOR THE SALVATION OF HER CONSORT, KING EDWIN. 

The same pope also wrote to King Edwin's consort, 
Ethelburga, to this effect : — 

The copy of the letter of the most blessed and apostolic 
Boniface, pope of the city of Rome, to Ethelburga, King 
Edwins queen. 

*' To the illustrious lady his daughter. Queen Ethelburga, 
Boniface, bishop, servant of the servants of God : The 
goodness of our Redeemer has with much providence 
offered the means of salvation to the human race, which he 
rescued, by the shedding of his precious blood, from the 
bonds of captivity to the devil ; so that making his name 
known in divers ways to the Gentiles, they might acknow- 
ledge their Creator by embracing the mystery of the Chris- 
tian faith, which thing, the mystical regeneration of your 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 103 

purification, plainly shows to have been bestowed upon the 
mind of your highness by God's bounty. Our mind, there- 
fore, has much rejoiced in the benefit of our Lord's good- 
ness, for that he has vouchsafed, in your conversion, to 
kindle a spark of the orthodox religion, by which he might 
the more easily inflame in his love the understanding, not 
only of your glorious consort, but also of all the nation that 
is subject to you. For we have been informed by those 
who came to acquaint us with the laudable conversion of 
our illustrious son. King Eadbald, that your highness also, 
having received the wonderful sacrament of the Christian 
faith, continually excels in the perfonnance of works pious 
and acceptable to God. That you likewise carefuUy refrain 
from the worship of idols, and the deceits of temples and 
auguries, and having changed your devotion, are so wholly 
taken up with the love of your Redeemer, as never to cease 
lending yom' assistance for the propagation of the Chris- 
tian faith. And our fatherly charity having earnestly in- 
quired concerning your illustrious husband, we were given 
to understand, that he still served abominable idols, and 
w^ould not yield obedience or give ear to the voice of the 
preachers. This occasioned us no small grief, for that part 
of yom- body still remained a stranger to the knowledge of 
the supreme and undivided Trinity. Whereupon w^e, in 
our fatherly care, did not delay to admonish your Christian 
highness, exhorting you, that with the help of the Divine 
inspiration, you will not defer to do that which, both in 
season and out of season, is required of us ; that with the 
co-operating powder of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
your husband also may be added to the number of Clu'is- 
tians ; to the end that you may thereby enjo}^ the rights of 
marriage in the bond of a holy and unblemished union. 
For it is written, ' They two shall be in one flesh.' How 
can it be said, that there is unity between you, if he con- 
tinues a stranger to the brightness of your faith, by the 
interposition of dark and detestable error ? Therefore, 



104 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

applying yourself continually to prayer, do not cease to beg 
of the Divine mercy the benefit of his illumination ; to the 
end, that those whom the union of carnal affection has 
made in a manner but one body, may, after death, continue 
in perpetual union, by the bond of faith. Insist, therefore, 
illustrious daughter, and to the utmost of your power en- 
deavour to soften the hardness of his heart by insinuating 
the Divine precepts ; making him sensible how noble the 
mystery is which you liave received by believing, and how 
wonderful is the reward ^^hich, by the new birth, you have 
merited to obtain. Inflame the coldness of his heart by 
the knowledge of the Holy Ghost, that by the abolition of 
the cold and pernicious worship of Paganism, the heat of 
Divine faith may enhghten his understanding through your 
frequent exhortations; that the testimony of the holy 
Scripture may appear the more conspicuous, fulfilled by 
you, ' The unbelieving husband shall be saved by the be- 
lieving wife.' For to this effect you have obtained the 
mefcy of our Lord's goodness, that you may return with 
increase the fruit of faith, and the benefits entrusted in 
your hands ; for through the assistance of his mercy we do 
not cease with frequent prayers to beg that you may ])e 
able to perform the same. Having premised thus much, 
in pursuance of the duty of our fatherly affection, we ex- 
hort you, that when the opportmiity of a bearer shall offer, 
you will as soon as possible acquaint us with the success 
.which the Divme power shall grant by your means in the 
xjon version of your consort, and of the nation subject to 
you ; to the end that our solicitude, which earnestly ex- 
pects what appertains to the salvation of you and yours, 
may, by hearing from you, be set at rest ; and that we, dis- 
cerning more fully the brightness of the Divine propitiation 
diffused in you, may with a joyful confession abundantly 
return due thanks to God, the giver of all good things, and 
to St . Peter, the prince of the apostles . We have, moreover, 
sent you the blessmg Mt^ourl pjcotectoFj St. Peter, the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. ] 05 

prince of ^he apostles, that is, a silver looking-glass, and a 
gilt ivory comb, which we entreat your glory will receive with 
the same kind affection as it is known to be sent by us."*' 

auflitooiJ ,iiTi?9B 'i^tii^ '^-Bi':: ^bod emo lud 'i-^mmm £ m eham 

=113 19W0q lUOy % ■5.-:-^;': ::if- ■ i nrr^ -r:i'n>;IJBB felJC:\ 

gni:^i?irnian! yd tTB ^foa ot -i 

9ilj sldofl wod aid CHAPTER Xll^tja , 

^^g|Jty^ED^w.^s i>;r:5:suaded to believe, by a vision he had 
Yd HBed aid '^ ^^^^ when he was in exile. 

^c Thus the aforesaid Pope Boniface wrote for the salvation 
^f King Edwin and his nation. But a heavenly vision, 
Which the Divine mercy was pleased once to reveal to this 
Mng, when he was once in banishment at the court of Red- 
wald, King of the Angles, was of no little use in urging 
him to embrace and understand the doctrines of salvation. 
-Paulinus, therefore, perceiving that it was a very difficult 
%ask to incline the king's lofty mind to the humility of the 
way of salvation, and to embrace the mystery of the cross 
'(k life, and at the same time using both exhortation with 
ihen, and prayer to God, for his and his subjects' salvation ; 
at length, as we may suppose, it was shown him in spirit 
what was the vision that had been formerly revealed to the 
kmg. Nor did he lose any time, but immediately admo- 
nished the king to perform the vow which he had made, 
%liefl he ^e<?eived the oracle, promising to put the same 
ja execution, if he were delivered from the trouble he was 
^ that time under, and should be advanced to the throne. 
The vision was this. When Ethelfrid, -his predecessor, 
was persecuting him, he for many years wandered in a pri- 
vate manner through several places or kingdoms, and at 
last came to Redwald, beseeching him to give him protec- 
tion against the snares^ of his powerful persecutor. Red- 
wald willingly admitted him, and promised to perform wliat 
he requested. But when Ethelfrid understood that he had 



106 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

appeared in that province, and that he and his companions 
were hospitably entertained by Redwald, he sent messengers 
to offer that king a great sum of money to murder him, but 
without effect. He sent a second and a third time, bid- 
ding more and more each time, and threatening to make 
war on him if he refused. Redwald, either terrified by his 
threats, or gained by his gifts, complied with his request, 
and promised either to kill Edwin, or to deliver him up to 
the ambassadors. This being observed by a trusty friend 
of his, he went into his chamber, where he was going to 
bed, for it was the first hour of the night ; and calling him 
out, discovered what the king had promised to do with 
him, adding, " If, therefore, you think fit, I will this very 
hour conduct you out of this province, and lead you to a 
place where neither Redwald nor Ethelfrid shall ever find 
you." He answered, " I thank you for your good will, yet 
I cannot do what you propose, or be guilty of breaking the 
compact I have made with so great a king, when he has 
done me no harm, nor offered me any injury ; but, on the 
contrary, if I must die, let it rather be by his hand than by 
that of any meaner person. For whither shall I now fly, 
when I have for so many years been a vagabond through 
all the provinces of Britain, to escape the hands of my 
enemies T' His friend being gone, Edwin remained alone 
without, and sitting with a heavy heart before the palace, 
began to be overwhelmed with many thoughts, not know- 
ing what to do, or which way to turn himself. When he 
had remained a long time in silence, brooding over his mis- 
fortunes ill anguish of mind, he, on a sudden, in the dead 
of night, saw approaching a person, whose face and habit 
were equally strange, at which unexpected sight he was 
not a little frightened. The stranger coming close up, 
saluted him, and asked him, ' ' Why he sat there alone and 
melancholy on a stone at that time, when all others were 
taking their rest, and were fast asleep V Edwin, in his 
I turn, asked, '' What it was to him, whether he spent the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 107 

night within doors or abroad?" The stranger, in reply, 
said, " Do not think that I am ignorant of the cause of 
your grief, your watching, and sitting alone without. For 
I know who you are, and why you grieve, and the evils 
which you fear will fall upon you. But tell me, what re- 
ward you will give the man that shall deliver you out of 
this anguish, and persuade Redwald neither to do you any 
harm himself, nor to deliver you up to be murdered by 
your enemies f ' Edwin replied, " That he would give that 
person all that he was able for so singular a favour." The 
other further added, " What if I also assure you, that you 
shall overcome your enemies, and surpass in power, not 
only all your own progenitors, but even all that have reigned 
before you of the English nation ?" Edwin, encouraged by 
these questions, did not hesitate to promise that he would 
make a suitable return to him who should so highly oblige 
him. Then said the other, " But if he who foretells so 
much good as is to befall you, can also give you better 
advice for your life and salvation than any of your progeni- 
tors or kindred ever heard of, do you consent to submit to 
him, and to follow his wholesome counsel?" Edwin did 
not hesitate to promise that he would in all things follow 
the directions of that man who should deliver him from so 
many calamities, and raise him to a throne. Having re- 
ceived this answer, the person that talked to him laid his 
hand on his head, saying, " When this sign shall be given 
you, remember this present discourse that has passed be- 
tween us, and do not delay the performance of what you 
now promise." Having uttered these words, he is said to 
have immediately vanished, that the king might understand 
it was not a man, but a spirit, that had appeared to him. 
Whilst the royal youth still sat there alone, glad of the 
comfort he had received, but seriously considering who he 
was, or whence he came, that had so talked to him, his 
above-mentioned friend came to him, and saluting him with 
a pleasant countenance, " Rise,'^ said he, "go in, and com- 



108 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

pose yourself to sleep without fear; for the ' king's res6hi>- 
tion is altered, and he designs to do you no harm, but 
rather to perform the promise which he made you : for 
when he had privately acquainted the queen with his 
intention of doing what I told you before, she dissuaded 
him from it, declaring it was unworthy of so great a king 
to sell his good friend in such distress for gold, and to 
sacrifice his honour, which is more valuable than all other 
ornaments, for the lucre of money." In short, the king 
did as he was advised, and not only refused to deliver up 
the banished man to his enemy's messengers, but assisted 
him to recover his kingdom. For as soon as the ambassa- 
dors were returned home, he raised a mighty army to make 
war on Ethelfrid ; who, meeting him with much inferior 
forces, for Redwald had not given him time to gather all his 
power, was slain on the borders of the kingdom of Mercia, 
on the east side of the river that is called Idle. In this 
Ijattle, Redwald's son, called Regnher, was killed ; and 
thus Edwin, pursuant to the oracle he had received, not 
only escaped the danger from the king his enemy, but, by 
his death, succeeded him in the throne, j. King Edwin, 
therefore, delaying to receive the word of Ood at the 
preaching of Paulinus, and using for some time, as has 
been said, to sit several hours alone, and seriously to 
ponder with himself what he was to do, and what religion 
he was to follow, the man of God came to liim, laid his 
right hand on his head, and asked, " Whether he knew 
that signT" The king, in atrembhng condition, was ready 
to fall down at his feet, but he raised him up, and in a 
familiar manner said to him, '* Behold, by the help of God 
you have escaped the hands of the enemies whom you 
feared. Behold you have of his gift obtained the kingdom 
wliich you desired. Take heed not to delay that wliich 
you promised to perform ; embrace the faith, and keep the 
precepts of Him who, delivering you from temporal adver''- 
sity^ Iia^ri^aised you to the ilionour of a iemporal kingdom; 



#«gli? THE ENGLISH NATION. 109 

and if, from this time forward, you shall be obedient to his 
will, which through me he signifies to you, he will not only 
deliver you from the everlasting torments of the wicked, 
feui also make you partaker with him of his eternal king- 
S^iimin heaven." ^d uo- ^ 



a,i i9Tlh^ CHAPTER XIII. ^ ^^eMb 

OF THE COUNCIL HE HELD WITH HIS PllIME MEN ABOUT EMBRACING 
THE FAITH OF CHRIST, AND HOW HIS HIGH PRIEST PROFANED 
HIS ALTARS. 

,; The king hearing these words, answered, that he was 
both willing and bound to receive the faith which he taught ; 
but that he would confer about it with his principal friends 
and counsellors, to the end that if they also w^ere of his 
opinion, they might all together be cleansed in Christ the 
fountain of life. Paulinus consenting, the king did as he 
had said; for, holding a council with the wise men, he 
asked of every one in particular what he thought of the 
new doctrine, and the new worship that was preached ? To 
36vhich the chief of his own priests, Coifi, immediately an- 
swered, "O king, consider what this is which is now 
preached to us ; for I verily declare to you, that the reli- 
gion which we have hitherto professed has, as far as I can 
learn, no virtue in it. / For none of your people has applied 
Mmself more diligently^o the worship of our gods than I ; 
&nd yet there are many who receive greater favours from 
you, and are more preferred than I, and are more pros- 
perous in all their undertakings. Now if the gods were 
good for any thing, they would rather Jorward me, who 
^ave been more careful to serve them, ylt remains, there- 
fore, that if upon examination you find those new doctrines, 
which are now preached to us, better and more efficacious, 



no 



THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



we immediately receive them without any delay." Another 
of the king's chief men, approving of his words and exhorta- 
tions, presently added : " The present hfe of man, O king, 
seems to me, in comparison of that time which is un- 
known to us, like to the swift flight of a sparrow through 
the room wherein you sit at supper in winter, with your 
commanders and ministers, and a good fire in the midst, 
whilst the storms of rain and snow prevail abroad ; the 
sparrow, I say, flying in at one door, and immediately out 
at another, whilst he is within is safe from the wintry storm ; 
but after a short space of fair weather, he immediately 
vanishes out of your sight, from one winter to another. So 
this life of man appears for a short space, but of what went 
before, or what is to follow, we are utterly ignorant. If, 
therefore, this new doctrine contains something more cer- 
tain, it seems justly to deserve to be followed." The other 
eldei-s and king's counsellors, by Divine inspiration, spoke 
to the same effect. But Coifi added, that he wished more 
attentively to hear Pauliniis discourse concerning the God 
whom he preaclied ; which he having by the king's command 
performed, Coifi, hearing his words, cried out, " I have 
long since been sensible that there was nothing in that which 
we worshipped ; because the more diligently I sought after 
truth in that worship, the less I found it. But now I freely 
confess, that such truth evidently appears in this preaching 
as can confer on us the gifts of life, of salvation, and of eter- 
nal happiness. For which reason I advise, O king, that we 
instantly abjure and set fire to those temples and altars 
which we have consecrated without reaping any benefit from 
, them." In short, the king publicly gave his licence to 
I Paulinus to preach the gospel, and renouncing idolatry, 
declared that he received the faith of Christ : and when he 
inquired of the high priest who should first profane the 
altars and temples of their idols, with the enclosures that 
were about them, he answered, " I ; for who can more pro- 
perly than myself destroy those things which I worshipped 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. Ill 

through ignorance, for an example to all others, through 
the wisdom which has been given me by the true God 1 " 
Then immediately, in contempt of his former superstitions 
he desired the king to furnish him with arms and a stallion 
and mounting the same, he set out to destroy the idols 
for it was not lawful before for the high priest either to 
I carry arms, or to ride on any but a mare. Having, there- 
llj^re, girt a sword about him, with a spear in his hand, he 
mounted the king's stallion and proceeded to the idols. 
The multitude beholding it, concluded he was distracted ; 
but he lost no time, for as soon as he drew near the temple 
he profaned the same, casting into it the spear which he 
held; and rejoicing in the knowledge of the worship of the 
true God, he commanded his companions to destroy the 
temple, with all its enclosures, by fire. This place where 
the idols were is still shown, not far from York, to the 
eastward, beyond the river Derwent, and is now called 
Godmundingham, where the high priest, by the inspiration 
of the true God, profaned and destroyed the altars which 
he had himself consecrated. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

KING EDWIN AND HIS NATION BECOME CHRISTIANS ; PAULINUS 
BAPTIZES THEM. 

King Edwin, therefore, with all the nobility of the nation, 
and a large number of the common sort, received the faith, 
and the washing of regeneration, in the eleventh year of his 
reign, which is the year of the incarnation of our Lord 627, 
and about one hundred and eighty after the coming of the 
English into Britain. He was baptized at York, on the 
holy day of Easter, being the 12th of April, in the church: 
of St. Peter the Apostle, which he himself had built of 



112 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

timber, whilst he was catechising and instructing in order 
to receive baptism. In that city also he appointed the see 
of the bishopric of his instructor and bishop, Paulinus. But 
as soon as he was baptized, he took care, by the direction 
of the same Paulinus, to build in the same place a larger 
and nobler church of stone, in the midst whereof that same 
oratory which he had first erected should be enclosed. Hav- 
ing, therefore, laid the foundation, he began to build the 
church square, encompassing the former oratory. But before 
the wall was raised to the proper height, the wicked assas- 
sination of the king left that work to be finished by Oswald 
his successor. Paulinus, for the space of six years from that 
time, that is, till the end of the reign of that king, by his 
consent and favour, preached the word of God in that 
country, and all tliat were preordained to eternal life be- 
lieved and were baptized^ Among whom w^ere Osfrid and 
Eadfrid, King Edwin's sons, who were both born to him 
whilst he was in banishment, of Quenburga, the daughter 
of Cearl, king of the IMercians, Afterwards other children 
of his by Queen Ethelburga were baptized, viz. Ethilun and 
his daughter Etheldrith, and Wustfrea, another son; the 
first two of which were snatched out of this life whilst they 
were still in the white garments of infancy, and buried in 
the church at York. Iffi, the son of Osfrid, was also bap- 
tized, and many more noble and royal persons. So great 
was then the fervour of the faith, as is reported, and the 
desire of the washing of salvation among the nation of the 
Northumbrians, that Paulinus at a certain time coming 
with the king and queen to the royal country-seat, which is 
called Adgebrin, stayed there with them thii-ty-six days, 
fully occupied in catechising and baptizing ; during which 
days, from morning till night, he did nothing else but in- 
struct the people resorting from all villages and places, in 
Christ's saving word ; and when instructed, he washed them 
with the water of absolution in the river Glen, which is 
close by. This town, under the following kings, was aban- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 113 

dowed, and'^^ndth^^ w^> b«ilt Instead of it| ^t^e^pM^e 
called Melmin. fq« &A osk rm od 

These things happeftefd^4n-^"he province of the Bernicians;'* 
but in that of the Deiri also, where he was wont often W 
be with the king, he baptized in the river Swale, whick' 
runs by the village Cataract; for as yet oratories, or fon^l^ 
could not be made in the early infancy of the church tfi? 
those parts. But he built a church in the plain of^©<8f^^ 
which afterwards the Pagans, by whom King Edwiti wafe' 
slain, burnt, together with all the town. In the place e>f 
which the later kings built themselves^ e^ntry-seat^i^T^hiP 
country called Loidis. But the altar, being of stone, escap^^ 
the fire, and is still preserved in the monastery of the most 
reverend abbot and priest, Thrythwulf, which is in Elmet® 
wood.--^i i^niejs gj b-bmrnw^-iq 9isw J-Biij ik Mm ^xiinuoo 

:u.^ ^^ :-i)a ^nm ,BMbaa 

. rh r^ff-.-. >.f, = / ^ .^. ..._., d?1o ^nii .bB9Qlo 

THE PROVINCE OF THE EAST, A^I^^g^^^ JH^^p^ ^|| ^^ 

:M\j ,1108 lyiidoii^ .^m-ibtSW^aQ .djhMadM isid-gusb aid 
• EDxt^i?^^ Vas'^so zeafcus for the worship of^ tfath; tlwasti^i 
likewise persuaded Eorpwald, king of the East Saxonfeta^ 
son of Redwald, to abandon his idolatrous superstitions^^^iiii 
with his whole province to receive the faith and sacraments:' 
of Christ. And indeed his father Redwald had long before 
been admitted to the sacrament of the Christian faith cOT 
Kent, but in vain; for t)n his return home, he was seduced 
by his wife and certain perverse teachers, and turned back 
fromthe sincerity of the faith; and: thus his latter Wto 
was worse than tlfe former; so that, like the ancient Sa- 
maritans, he seemed at the same time to serve Christ and 
the gods whom he had served before; and in the saffl^a 
temple he had an altar to sacrifice to Christ, and anoth^^ 
small one to offer victims to devils; which temple, AldMfy 
king of that same province, who lived in our time, testifidP- 

I 



114 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

had stood until his time, and that he had seen it when he 
was a boy. The aforesaid King Redwald was noble by 
birth, though ignoble in his actions, being the son of Tytili, 
whose father was Vuffa, from whom the kings of the East 
Angles are called Vuffings. But Eorpwald was, not long 
after he had embraced the Christian faith, slain by one 
Richbercht, a pagan ; and from that time the province was 
under error for three years, till the crown came into the 
possession of Sigbercht, brother to the same Eorpwald, a 
most Christian and learned man, who was banished, and 
went to hve in France during his brother's life, and was 
there admitted to the sacraments of the faith, whereof he 
made it his business to cause all his province to partake as 
soon as he came to the throne. His exertions were much 
promoted by the Bishop Felix, who, coming to Honorius, 
the archbishop, from Burgundy, where he had been born 
and ordained, and having told him what he desired, he sent 
him to preach the word of life to the aforesaid nation of the 
Angles. Nor were his good wishes in vain ; for the pious 
husbandman reaped therein a large harvest of believers, 
delivering all that province (according to the signification 
of his name, Felix) from long iniquity and infelicity, and 
bringing it to the faith and works of righteousness, and the 
gifts of everlasting happiness. He had the see of his 
bishopric appointed him in the city Dommoc, and having 
presided over the same province with pontifical authority 
seventeen years, he ended his days there in peace. 

■^^s* Ot j; 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HOW PAULINUS PREACHED IX THE PROVINCE OF LINDSEY, AND OF 
THE REIGN OF EDWIN. 

Paueinus also preached the word to the province of 
Lindsey, which is the first on the south side of the river 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 115 

Humber, stretching out as far as the sea ;. and he first con- 
verted the governor of the city of Lincohi with his whole 
family. He likewise built, in that city, a stone church of 
beautiful workmanship ; the roof of which having either 
fallen through age, or been thrown down by enemies, the 
walls are still to be seen standing, and every year some 
miraculous cures are generally ^Tought in that place, for 
the benefit of those who have faith to seek the same. In 
that church, Justus having departed to Christ, Pauhnus 
consecrated Honorius bishop in his stead, as will be here- 
after mentioned in its proper place. A certain abbot and 
priest of singular veracity, whose name was Deda, in rela- 
tion to the faith of this province told me that one of the 
oldest persons had informed him, that he himself had been 
baptized at noon-day, by the Bishop Paulinus, in the pre- 
sence of King Edwi, with a great number of the people, 
in the river Trent, near the city, which in the English 
tongue is called Tio^oilfingacestir ; and he was also wont to 
describe the person of the same Paulinus, that he was tall 
of stature, a little stooping, his hair black, his visage 
meagre, his nose slender and aquiline, his aspect both 
venerable and majestic. He had also with him in the mi- 
nistry, James, the deacon, a man of zeal and great fame in 
Christ's church, who lived even to our days. It is reported 
that there was then such perfect peace in Britain, where- 
soever the dominion of King Edwin extended, that, as is 
now proverbially said, a woman with her new-born babe 
might walk throughout the island, from sea to sea, without 
receiving any harm. That king took such care for the 
good of his nation, that in several places, wiiere he had seen 
clear springs near the highways, he caused stakes to be 
fixed, with brass dishes hanging at them, for the conve- 
niency of travellers ; nor durst any man touch them for any 
other purpose than that for which they were designed, 
either through the dread they had of the king, or for the 
affection wdiich they bore him. His dignity was so great 

I 2 



1J6 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

throughout his dominions, that his banners were not only 
borne before him in battle, but even in time of peace, when 
he rode about his cities, towns, or provinces, with his offi- 
cers, the standard-bearer was wont to go before him. Also, 
when he walked along the streets, that sort of banner which 
the Romans call Tufa, and the English, Thuuf, was in like 
manner borne before him. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

EDWIN RECEIVES LETTERS OF EXHORTATION FROM POPE HONORIUS, 
WHO ALSO SENDS PAULINUS THE PALL. 

At that time Honorius, successor to Boniface, was pre- 
late of the Apostolic See, who, when he understood that 
the nation of the Northumbrians, with their king, had been, 
by the preaching of Paulinus, converted to the faith and 
confession of Christ, sent the pall to the said Paulinus, and 
with it letters of exhortation to King Edwin, exciting him, 
with fatherly charity, that his people should persist in the 
faith of truth, which they had received. The contents of 
which letter were as follows : — 

" To his most noble son, and excellent lord, Edwin, 
King of the Angles, Bishop Honorius, servant of the ser- 
vants of God, greeting : The integrity of your Christian 
character, in the worship of your Creator, is so much in- 
flamed with the fire of faith, that it shines out far and near, 
and being reported throughout the world, brings forth 
plentiful fruits of your labours. For your conduct as a 
king is based upon the knowledge which by orthodox 
preaching you have obtained of your God and Creator, 
whereby you believe and worship him, and as far as man 
is able, pay him the sincere devotion of your mind. For 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 117 

what else are we able to offer to our God, but in endea- 
vouring to worship, and to pay him our vows, persisting in 
good actions, and confessing him the Creator of mankind ? 
And, therefore, most excellent son, we exhort you with 
such fatherly charity as is requisite, that you with careful 
mind, and constant prayers, every way labour to preserve 
this gift, that the Divine mercy has vouchsafed to call you 
to his grace ; to the end, that he, who has been pleased to 
deliver you from all errors, and bring you to the knowledge 
of his name, may likewise prepare you mansions in the 
heavenly country. Employing yourselves, therefore, in 
reading the works of my Lord Gregory, your preacher, of 
apostolical memory, represent before yourself the tender- 
ness of his doctrine, which he zealously employed for the 
sake of your souls ; that his prayers may increase your 
kingdom and people, and present you blameless before 
Almighty God. We are preparing with a willing mind 
immediately to grant those things which you hoped would 
be by us ordained for your priests, which we do on account 
of the sincerity of your faith, which has been often made 
known to us in terms of praise by the bearers of these pre- 
sents. We have sent two palls to the two metropolitans, 
Honorius and Paulinus ; to the intent, that when either of 
them shall be called out of this world to his Creator, the 
other may, by this authority of ours, substitute another 
bishop in his place; which privilege we are induced to 
grant, as well in regard to your charitable affection, as of 
the large and extensive provinces which lie between us and 
you ; that we may in all things afford our concurrence to 
your devotion, according to your desires. May God's grace 
preserve your excellency in safety !" 



118 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

HOXORIUS, WHO SUCCEEDED JUSTUS IN THE BISHOPRIC OF CANTER- 
BURY, RECEIVES THE PALL AND LETTERS FROM POPE HONORIUS. 

In the mean time Archbishop Justus was taken up to 
the heavenly kingdom, on the 10th of November, and Ho- 
norius, who was elected to the see in his stead, came to 
PauHnus to be ordained, and meeting him at Lincoln, was 
there consecrated the fifth prelate of the Church of Canter- 
bury from Augustine. To him also the aforesaid Pope 
Honorius sent the pall, and a letter, wherein he ordains 
the same that he had before established in his epistle to 
King Edwin, viz. that when either of the bishops of Can- 
terbury or of York shall depart this life, the survivor of 
the same degree shall have power to ordain a priest in the 
room of him that is departed ; that it might not be neces- 
sary always to travel to Rome, at so great a distance by sea 
and land, to ordain an archbishop. AVliich letter we have 
also thought fit to insert in this our history : — 

" Honorius to his most l^eloved brother Honorius : 
Among the many good gifts which the mercy of our Re- 
deemer is pleased to bestow on his servants, the munifi- 
cent bounty of his love is never more conspicuous than 
when he permits us by brotherly intercourse, as it were 
face to face, to exhibit our mutual love. For which gift we 
continually return thanks to his Majesty ; and we humbly 
beseech him, that he will ever confirm your piety in preach- 
ing the gospel, and bringing forth fruit, and following the 
rule of your master and head, St. Gregory ; and that, for 
the advancement of his Church, he may by your means add 
farther increase ; to the end, that the souls already won by 
you and your predecessors, beginning v/ith our Lord Gre- 
gory, may grow strong and be farther extended by faith 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 119 

and works in the fear of God and charity ; that so the 
promises of the word of God may hereafter be brought to 
pass in you ; and that this voice may call you away to the 
everlasting happiness. ' Come unto me all ye that labour, 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' And again, 
' Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast 
been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over 
many things ; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' And 
we, most beloved brothers, offering you these words of ex- 
hortation, out of our abundant charity, do not hesitate 
further to grant those things which we perceive may be 
agreeable for the privileges of your churches, and as well 
pursuant to your request, as to that of the kings our sons, 
do by these presents, in the name of St. Peter, prince of 
the apostles, grant you authority, that when the Divine 
grace shall call either of you to himself, the survivor shall 
ordain a bishop in the room of him that is deceased. To 
which effect also we have sent a pall to each of you, for 
celebrating of the said ordination ; that by the authority of 
our precept, you may make an ordination acceptable to 
God ; because the long distance of sea and land that lies 
between us and you, has obliged us to grant you this, that 
no loss may happen to your Church in any way, on account 
of any pretence whatever, but that the devotion of the 
people committed to you may be more fully extended. 
God preserve you in safety, most dear brother ! Given the 
11th day of June, in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of 
our most pious emperor, Heraclius, and the twenty-third 
after his consulship ; in the twenty- third of the reign of 
his son Constantino, and the third after his consulship ; 
and in the third year of the most illustrious Caesar, his son 
Heraclius, the seventh indiction ; that is, in the year of the 
incarnation of our Lord, 684." 

- ; n'i 



120 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTOKY 



CHAPTER XIX. 

HOW THE AFORESAID HONORIUS FIRST, AND AFfERWARDS JOHN, 
WROTE LETTERS TO THE NATION OF THE SCOTS^ CONCERNING 
J'HE OBSERVANCE OF EASTER, AND THE PELAGIAN HERESY. 

The same Pope Honorius also wrote to the Scots, whom 
he had found to err in the observance of Easter, as has 
been shown above, earnestly exhorting them not to think 
their small numljer, [)laced in the utmost borders of the 
eai-th, wiser than all the ancient and modern churches of 
Christ tlu'ougliout the world ; and not to celebrate a dif- 
ferent Easter, contrary to the paschal calculation, and the 
synodical decrees of all the bishops upon earth. Likewise 
John, who succeeded Severinus, successor to the same 
Honorius, being yet but pope elect, sent to them letters of 
great authority and erudition, for correcting the same 
error; evidently showing, that Easter Sunday is to be 
found between the fifteenth moon and the twenty-first, as 
was proved in the Council of Nice. He also in the same 
epistle admonished them to be careful to crush the Pela- 
gian heresy, which he had been informed was reviving 
among them. The beginning of the epistle was as follows : — 

" To our most beloved and most holy Tomianus, Colum- 
banus, Cromanus, Dimanus, and Baithanus, bishops ; to 
Cromanus, Hernianus, Laustranus, Scellanus, and Segi- 
anus, priests ; to Saranus and the rest of the Scottish 
doctors, or abbots, health from Hilarius, the archpriest, 
and keeper of the place of the holy Apostolic See, John, 
the deacon, and elect in the name of God; from John, 
chief secretary and keeper of the place of the holy Aposto- 
lic See, and from John, the servant of God, and counsellor 
of the same Apostolic See. The wTitings which were 
brought by the bearers to Pope Severinus, of holy memory. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 



121 



were left, at his death, without an answer to the things 
contained in them. Lest such intricate questions should 
remain unresolved, w^e opened the same, and found that 
some in your province, endeavouring to revive a new heresy 
out of an old one, contrary to the orthodox faith, do 
tlirough ignorance reject our Easter, when Christ w^as 
sacrificed ; and contend that the same should be kept on 
the fourteenth moon with the Hebrews. (By which begin- 
ning of the epistle it evidently appears, that this heresy 
was sprung among them of very late times, and that not all 
their nation, but only some of them, were fallen into the 
same. After having laid down the manner of keeping 
Easter, they add this concerning the Pelagians in the same 
epistle.) And we have also understood, that the poison of 
the Pelagian heresy again springs up among you ; we, 
therefore, exhort you, that you put away from your thoughts 
all such venomous and superstitious w^ickedness. For you 
cannot be ignorant how that execrable heresy has been 
condemned ; for it has not only been abolished these two 
hundi-ed years, but it is also daily anathematized for ever 
by us ; and we exhort you, now that the weapons of their 
controversy have been burnt, not to rake up the ashes. 
For who will not detest that insolent and impious proposi- 
tion, ' That man can live without sin of his own free will, 
and not through God's grace.' And in the first place it is 
the folly of blasphemy to say, that man is without sin, 
w^hich none can be, but only the Mediator of God and man, 
the man Christ Jesus, who w^as conceived and born w^ithout 
sin ; for all other men, being born in original sin, are known 
to bear the mark of Adam's prevarication, even whilst they 
are without actual sin, according to the saying of the 
prophet, ' For behold I was shapen in iniquity ; and m sin 
did my mother conceive me.' " 



122 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

CHAPTER XX. 

EDWIN BEING SLAIN, PALLINUS RETURNS INTO KENT, AND HAS 
THE BISHOPRIC OF ROCHESTER CONFERRED ON HIM. 

Edwin reigned most gloriously seventeen years over the 
nations of the English and the Britons, six whereof, as has 
been said, he also was a servant in the kingdom of Christ. 
Caedwal, King of the Britons, rebelled against him, being 
supi)orted by Penda, a most warlike man of the royal race 
of the Mercians, and who from that time governed that 
nation twenty-two years with various success : a great 
battle being fought in the plain that is called Hethfeld, 
Edwin was killed on the 12th of October, in the year of 
our Lord 63 3, being then forty-seven years of age, and all 
his army was either slain or dispersed. In the same war 
also, before him, fell Osfrid, one of his sons, a warlike 
youth; Eanfrid, another of them, compelled by necessity, 
went over to King Penda, and was by him afterwards, in 
the reign of Oswald, slain, contrary to his oath. At this 
time a great slaughter was made in the church or nation 
of the Northumbrians ; and the more so because one of the 
commanders, by whoni it was made, was a pagan, and the 
other a barbarian, more cruel than a pagan ; for Penda, 
with all the nation of the ^Mercians, w^as an idolater, and a 
stranger to the name of Christ ; but Caedwal, though he bore 
the name and professed himself a Christian, w^as so barbarous 
in his disposition and behaviour, that he neither spared the 
female sex, nor the innocent age of childi^en, but with savage 
cruelty put them to tormenting deaths, ravaging all their 
country for a long time, and resolving to cut off all the race 
of the English within the borders of Britain. Nor did he 
pay any respect to the Christian religion which had newly 
taken root among them ; it being to this day the custom of 
the Britons not to pay any respect to the faith and religion 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 123 

of the English, nor to correspond with them any more than 
with pagans. King Edwin's head was brought to York, 
and afterwards into the church of St. Peter the Apostle, 
which he had begun, but which his successor Oswald 
finished, as has been said before. It was deposited in the 
porch of St. Gregory, Pope, from whose disciples he had 
received the word of life. The affairs of the Northum- 
brians being in confusion, by reason of this disaster, without 
any prospect of safety except in flight, Paulinus, taking 
with him Queen Ethelburga, whom he had before brought 
thither, returned into Kent by sea, and was honourably 
received by the Archbishop Honorius and King Eadbald. 
He came thither under the conduct of Bassus, a most 
valiant soldier of King Edwin, having with him Eanfleda, 
the daughter, and Vuscfrean, the son of Edwin, as also Iffi, 
the son of Osfrid, his son, whom afterwards the mother, for 
fear of Eadbald and Oswald, sent over into France to be 
bred up by that king, who was her friend ; and there they 
both died in infancy, and were buried in the church, with 
the honour due to royal children and to innocents of Christ. 
He also brought with him many rich goods of King Edwin, 
among which was a large gold cross, and a gold chalice, 
dedicated to the use of the altar, which are still preserved, 
and shown in the church of Canterbury. 

At that time the Church of Rochester had no bishop, for 
Romanus, the prelate thereof, being sent to Pope Hono- 
rius, by Archbishop Justus, as his legate, was drowned in 
the Italian sea ; and thereupon, Paulinus, at the request of 
Archbishop Honorius, and King Eadbald, took upon him the 
charge of the same, and held it until he departed to heaven, 
with the glorious fruits of his labours ; and, dying in that 
church, he left there the pall which he had received from 
the pope of Rome. He had left behind him in his church 
at York, James, the deacon, a holy ecclesiastic, who con- 
tinuing long after in that church, by teaching and baptizing, 
rescued much prey from the power of the old enemy of 



124 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, ETC. 

mankind ; from whom the village, where he mostly resided, 
near Cataract, has its name to this day. He was extraor- 
dinarily skilful in singing, and when the province was after- 
wards restored to peace, and the number of the faithful 
increased, he began to teach many of the church to sing, 
according to the custom of the Romans, or of the Cantu- 
arians. And being old and full of days, as the scripture 
says, he followed the way of his forefathers. 



THE 

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

OF THE 

ENGLISH NATION. 



BOOK III. 



CHAPTER I. 

HOW KING Edwin's next successors lost both the faith op 

THEIR NATION AND THE KINGDOM ; BUT THE MOST CHRISTIAN 
KING OSWALD RETRIEVED BOTH. 

Edwin being slain in battle, the kingdom of the Deiri, 
to which province his family belonged, and where he first 
began to reign, devolved on Osric, the son of his uncle 
Elfric, who, through the preaching of Paulinus, had also 
received the faith. But the kingdom of the Bernicians, for 
into these two provinces the nation of the Northumbrians 
was formerly divided, was possessed by Eanfrid, the son of 
Edelfrid, who derived his origin from the royal family of 
that province. For all the time that Edwin reigned, the 
sons of the aforesaid Edelfrid, who had reigned before him, 
with many of the nobility, lived in banishment among the 
Scots or Picts, and were there instructed according to the 
doctrine of the Scots, and received the grace of baptism. 
Upon the death of the king, their enemy, they returned 
home, and Eanfrid, as the eldest of them, mentioned above, 
became king of the Bernicians. Both those kings, as soon 
as they obtained the government of their earthly kingdoms, 



126 



THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



renounced and lost the faith of the heavenly kingdom, 
and again delivered themselves up to be defiled by " the 
abominations of their former idols. But presently after, 
the king of the Britons, Ceadwal, slew them both, 
through the rightful vengeance of heaven, though the act 
was base in him. He first slew Osric, the next summer, 
by whom being besieged in a strong town he sallied out 
on a sudden with all his forces, by surprise, and de- 
stroyed him and all his army. After this, for the space of 
a year, he reigned over the provinces of the Northumbrians, 
not like a victorious king, but like a rapacious and bloody 
tyrant, and at length brought to the same end Eanfrid, who 
unadvisedly came to him with only twelve chosen soldiers, 
to sue for peace. To thi.s day, that year is looked upon as 
unhappy, and hateful to all good men ; as well on account 
of the apostacy of the English kings, who had renounced 
the faith, as of the outrageous tyranny of the British king. 
Hence it has been agreed by all who have written about the 
reigns of kings, to abolish the memory of those perfidious 
monarchs, and to assign that year to the reign of the follow- 
ing king, Oswald, a man beloved by God. This last king, 
after the death of his brother Eanfrid, advanced with an 
army small indeed in number, but strengthened with the 
faith of Christ ; and the impious commander of the Britons 
was slain, though he had most numerous forces, which he 
boasted nothing could withstand, at a place in the EngHsh 
tongue called Denises-burn, that is, Denises-brook. 



si;[ ion - 
CHAPTER II. 

HOW AMONG INNUMERABLE OTHER MIRACULOUS CURES WROUGHT 
BY THE CROSS, WHICH KING OSWALD, BEING READY TO ENGAGE 
AGAINST THE BARBARIANS, ERECTED, A CERTAIN YOUTH HAD 
HIS LAME ARM HEALED. 

The place is shown to this day, and held in much venera- 
tion, where Oswald, being about to engage, erected the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 127 

sign of the holy cross, and on his knees prayed to God that 
he would assist his worshippers in their great distress. It 
is further reported, that the cross being made in haste, and 
the hole dug in which it was to be fixed, the king himself, 
full of faith, laid hold of it and held it with both his hands, 
till it was set fast by throwing in the earth ; and this done, 
raising his voice, he cried to his army, " Let us all kneel, 
and jointly beseech the true and living God Almighty, in 
his mercy, to defend us from the haughty and fierce enemy ; 
for he knows that we have undertaken a just war for the 
safety of our nation." All did as he had commanded, and 
accordingly advancing towards the enemy with the first 
dawn of day, they obtained the victory, as their faith de- 
served. In that place of prayer very many miraculous 
cures are known to have been performed, as a token and 
memorial of the king's faith ; for even to this day, many 
are wont to cut off* small chips of the wood of the holy cross, 
which being put into water, men or cattle drinking of, or 
sprinkled with that water, are immediately restored to 
health. The place in the English tongue is called Heofon- 
feld, which signifies the heavenly field, which name irfcr 
formerly received as a presage of what was afterwards t6" 
happen, denoting, that there the heavenly trophy would be 
erected, the heavenly victory begun, and heavenly miracles 
be wrought to this day. The same place is near the wall 
with which the Romans formerly enclosed the island from sea 
to sea, to restrain the fury of the barbarous nations, as has 
been said before. Hither also the brothers of the church 
of Hagulstad, which is not far from thence, repair yearly on 
the day before that on which King Oswald was afterwards 
slain, to watch there for the health of his soul, and having 
sung many psalms, to offer for him in the morning the sacri- 
fice of the holy oblation. And since that good custom has 
spread, they have lately built and consecrated a church 
there, which has attached additional sanctity and honour to 
that jDlace ; and this with good treason, for it appears that 



128 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

there was no sign of the Christian faith, no church, no altar 
erected throughout all the nation of the Bernicians, before 
that new commander of the army, prompted by tlie devo- 
tion of his faith, set up the same as he was going to give 
battle to his barbarous enemy. 

Nor is it foreign to our purpose to relate one of the 
many miracles that have been wrought at this cross. One 
of the brothers of the same church of Hagulstad, whose 
name is Bothelm, and who is still living, a few years since, 
walking carelessly on the ice at night, suddenly fell and 
broke his arm ; a most raging pain commenced in the 
broken part, so that he could not lift his arm to his mouth 
for the violence of the anguish. Hearing one morning that 
one of the brothers designed to go to the place of the holy 
cross, he desired him, at his return, to bring him a bit of 
that venerable wood, saying, he believed that with the help 
of God he might thereby be healed. The brother did as 
he was desired; and returning in the evening, when the 
brothers were sitting at table, gave him some of the old 
moss which grew on the surface of the wood. As he sat 
at table, having no place to lay up that which was brought 
him, he put the same into his bosom ; and forgetting when 
he went to bed to lay it up, left it in his bosom. Awaking 
in the middle of the night, he felt something cold lying by 
his side, and putting his hand to feel what it was, he found 
his arm and hand as sound as if he had never felt any such 
pain. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE SAME KING OSW' ALD, ASKING A BISHOP OF THE SCOTTISH NATION, 
HAD AIDAN SENT HIM, AND GRANTED HIM AN EPISCOPAL SEE IN 
THE ISLE OF LINDISFARN. 

The same Oswald, as soon as he ascended the throne, 
being desirous that all his nation should receive the Chris- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 129 

tian faith, whereof he had found happy experience in van- 
quishing the barbarians, sent to the elders of the Scots, 
among whom himself and his followers, when in banish- 
ment, had received the sacrament of baptism, desiring they 
would send him a bishop, by whose instruction and ministry 
the Enghsh nation, which he governed, might be taught 
the advantages, and receive the sacraments of the Christian 
faith. Nor were they slow in granting his request ; but 
sent him Bishop Aidan, a man of singular meekness, piety, 
and moderation ; zealous in the cause of God, though not 
altogether according to knowledge; for he was wont to 
keep Easter Sunday according to the custom of his country, 
which we have before so often mentioned, from the four- 
teenth to the twentieth moon ; the northern province of 
the Scots, and all the nation of the Picts, celebrating 
Easter then after that manner, and beHeving that they 
therein followed the writings of the holy and praiseworthy 
Father Anatolius ; the truth of which every skilful person 
can discern. But the Scots which dwelt in the south of 
Ireland had long since, by the admonition of the bishop of 
the apostolic see, learned to observe Easter according to the 
canonical custom. On the arrival of the bishop, the king 
appointed him his episcopal see in the isle of Lindisfarn, as 
he desired. Which place, as the tide flows and ebbs twice 
a day, is enclosed by the waves of the sea like an island ; 
and again, twice in the day, when the shore is left dry, 
becomes contiguous to the land. The king also humbly 
and willingly in all cases giving ear to his admonitions, in- 
dustriously applied himself to build and extend the church 
of Christ in his kingdom ; wherein, when the bishop, who 
was not skilful in the English tongue, preached the gospel, 
it was most delightful to see the king himself interpreting 
the word of God to his commanders and ministers, for he 
had perfectly learned the language of the Scots during his 
long banishment. From that time many of the Scots came 
daily into Britain, and with great devotion preached the 



130 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

word to those provinces of the English, over which King- 
Oswald reigned, and those among the in that had received 
priest's orders, administered to them the grace of baptism. 
Churches were built in several places ; the people joyfully 
flocked together to hear the word ; money and lands were 
given of the king's bounty to build monasteries ; the Eng- 
lisli, great and small, were, by their Scottish masters, 
instructed in the rules and observance of regular discipline; 
for most of them that came to preacli were monks. Bishop 
Aidan was himself a monk of the island called Hii, whose 
monastery was for a long time the chief of almost all those 
of the northern Scots, and all those of the Picts, and had 
the direction of tlieir people. That island belongs to Bri- 
tain, Ijcing divided from it by a small arm of the sea, but 
had been long since given by the Picts, who inhabit those 
parts of Britain, to the Scottish monks, because they had 
received the faith of Christ through their preaching. 



CHAPTER IV. 

WHEN THE NATIOX OF THE PICTS RECEIVED THE FAITH. 

In the year of our Lord 565 j when Justin, the younger, 
the successor of Justinian, had the government of the Ro- 
man empu-e, there came into Britain a famous priest and 
abbot, a monk by habit and life, whose name was Columb, 
to preach the word of God to the provinces of the northern 
Picts, who are separated from the southern parts by steep 
and rugged mountains ; for the southern Picts, who dwell 
on this side of those mountains, had long before, as is re- 
ported, forsaken the errors of idolatry, and embraced the 
truth, by the preaching of Nynias, a most reverend bishop 
and holy man of the British nation, who had been regularly 
instructed at Rome, in the faith and mysteries of the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 131 

truth; whose episcopal see, named after St. Martin the 
bishop, and famous for a stately church, (wherein he and 
many other saints rest in the body,) is still in existence 
among the English nation. The place belongs to the pro- 
vince of the Bernicians, and is generally called Candida 
Casa, the White House, because he there built a church of 
stone, which was not usual among the Britons. Columb 
came into Britain in the ninth year of the reign of Bri- 
dius, who was the son of Meilochon, and the powerful king 
of the Pictish nation, and he converted that nation to the 
faith of Christ, by his preaching and example ; whereupon 
he also received of them the aforesaid island for a monas- 
tery, for it is not very large, but about five miles in compass, 
according to the English computation. His successors 
hold the island to this day ; he was also buried therein, 
having died at the age of seventy-seven, about thirty-two 
years after he came into Britain to preach. Before he passed 
over into Britain, he had built a noble monastery in Ireland, 
which from the great number of oaks, is in the Scottish 
tongue called Dearmach, — The Field of Oaks. From 
both which monasteries, many others had their beginning 
through his disciples, both in Britain and Ireland ; but the 
monastery in the island where his body lies, is the principal 
of them all. That island has for its ruler an abbot, who is 
a priest, to whose direction all the province, and even the 
bishops, contrary to the usual method, are subject, accord- 
ing to the example of their first teacher, who was not a 
bishop, but a priest and monk ; of whose life and discourses 
some writings are said to be preserved by his disciples. 
But whatsoever he was himself, this we know for certain, 
that he left successors reno\vned for their continency, their 
love of God, and observance of monastic rules. It is true 
they followed uncertain rules in their observance of the 
great festival, as having none to bring them the synodal 
decrees for the observance of Easter, by reason of their 
being so far away from the rest of the world ; wherefore 

k2 



132 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

they only practised such works of piety and chastity as 
they could learn from the prophetical, evangelical, and 
apostolical writings. This manner of keeping Easter con- 
tinued among them for the space of 150 years, till the year 
of our Lord's incarnation 716. But then the most reve- 
rend and holy father and priest, Egberht, of the English 
nation, who had long lived in banishment in Ireland for the 
sake of Christ, and was most learned in the scriptures, and 
renowned for long perfection of life, came among them, 
corrected their error, and reduced them to the true and 
canonical day of Easter ; the which they nevertheless did not 
always keep on the fourteenth moon with the Jews, as some 
imagined, but on Sunday, although not in the proper week. 
For, as Christians, they knew that the resurrection of our 
Lord, which happened on the first day after the sabbath, 
was always to be celebrated on the first day after the sab- 
bath ; but being rude and barbarous, they had not learned 
when that same first day after the sabbath, which is now 
called the Lord's day, should come. But because they had 
not laid aside the fervent grace of charity, they were wor- 
thy to be informed in the true knowledge of this particular, 
according to the promise of the Apostle, saying, " And if in 
any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even 
this unto you." Of which we shall speak more fully in its 
proper place. 



CHAPTER V. 



OF THE LIFE OF BISHOP AIDAN. 



From the aforesaid island, and college of monks, was 
Aidan sent to instruct the English nation in Christ, having 
received the dignity of a bishop at the time when Segerius, 
abbot and priest, presided over that monastery ; whence, 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 133 

among other instructions for life, he left the clergy a most 
salutary example of abstinence or continence ; it was the 
highest commendation of his doctrine, with all men, that 
he taught no otherwise than he and his followers had lived ; 
for he neither sought nor loved any thing of this world, but 
delighted in distributing immediately among the poor what- 
soever was given him by the kings or rich men of the world. 
He was wont to traverse both town and country on foot, 
never on horseback, unless compelled by some urgent neces- 
sity ; and wheresoever in his way he saw any, either rich or 
poor, he invited them, if infidels, to embrace the mystery 
of the faith ; or if they were believers, to strengthen them 
in the faith, and to stir them up by words and actions to 
alms and good works. His course of life was so different 
from the slothfulness of our times, that all those who bore 
him company, whether they were shorn monks or laymen, 
were employed in meditation, that is, either in reading the 
scriptures, or learning psalms. This was the daily em- 
ployment of himself and all that were with him, whereso- 
ever they went ; and if it happened, which was but seldom, 
that he was invited to eat with the king, he went with one 
or two clerks, and having taken a small repast, made haste 
to be gone with them, either to read or write. At that 
time, many religious men and women, stirred up by his 
example, adopted the custom of fasting on Wednesdays and 
Fridays, till the ninth hour, throughout the year, except 
during the fifty days after Easter. He never gave money 
to the powerful men of the world, but only meat, if he hap- 
pened to entertain them ; and, on the contrary, whatsoever 
gifts of money he received from the rich, he either distri- 
buted them, as has been said, to the use of the poor, or 
bestowed them in ransoming such as had been wrongfully 
sold for slaves. Moreover, he afterwards made many of 
those he had ransomed his disciples, and after having 
taught and instructed them, advanced them to the order of 
priesthood. It is reported, that when King Oswald had 



134 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

asked a bishop of the Scots to administer the word of faith 
to him and his nation, there was first sent to him another 
man of a more austere disposition, who, meeting with no 
success, and being unregarded by the English people, re- 
turned home, and in an assembly of the elders reported, 
that he had not been able to do any good to the nation he 
had been sent to preach to, because they were uncivilized 
men, and of a stubborn and barbarous disposition. They, 
as is testified, in a great council seriously debated what 
was to be done, being desirous that the nation should 
receive the salvation it demanded, and grieving that they 
had not received the preacher sent to them. Then said 
Aidan, who was also present in the council, to the priest 
then spoken of, "I am of opinion, brother, that you were 
more severe to your unlearned hearers than you ought to 
have been, and did not at first, conformably to the apos- 
tolic rule, give them the milk of more easy doctrine, till 
being by degrees nourished with the word of God, they 
should be capable of greater perfection, and be able to 
practise God's sublimer precepts." Having heard these 
words, all present began diligently to weigh what he had 
said, and presently concluded, that he deserved to be made 
a bishop, and ought to be sent to instruct the incredulous 
and unlearned ; since he was found to be endued with sin- 
gular discretion, which is the mother of other virtues, and 
accordingly being ordained, they sent him to their friend, 
King Oswald, to preach; and he, as time proved, after- 
wards appeared to possess all other virtues, as well as the 
discretion for which he was before remarkable. 



CHAPTER VI. 

or KING Oswald's wonderful piety. 

King Osw^ald, with the nation of the English which he 
governed, being instructed by the teaching of this most 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 135 

reverend prelate, not only learned to hope for a heavenly 
kingdom unknown to his progenitors, but also obtained of 
the same one Almighty God, who made heaven and earth, 
larger earthly kingdoms than any of his ancestors. In 
short, he brought under his dominion all the nations and 
provinces of Britain, w^iich are divided into four languages, 
viz. the Britons, the Picts, the Scots, and the English. 
When raised to that height of dominion, wonderful to 
relate, he always continued humble, affable, and generous 
to the poor and strangers. 

In short, it is reported, that \vhen he was once sitting at 
dinner, on the holy day of Easter, with the aforesaid bishop, 
and a silver dish full of dainties before him, and they were 
just ready to bless the bread, the servant whom he had 
appointed to relieve the poor, came in on a sudden, and 
told the king, that a great multitude of needy persons from 
all parts were sitting in the streets begging some alms of 
the king ; he immediately ordered the meat set before him 
to be carried to the poor, and the dish to be cut in pieces 
and divided among them. At which sight, the bishop who 
sat by him, much taken with such an act of piety, laid hold 
of his right hand, and said, " May this hand never perish." 
Which fell out according to his prayer, for his arm and 
hand, being cut off from his body, when he was slain in 
battle, remain entire and uncorrupted to this day, and are 
kept in a silver case, as revered relics, in St. Peter's church 
in the royal city, which has taken its name from Bebba, 
one of its former queens. Through this king's manage- 
ment the provinces of the Deiri and the Bernicians, which 
till then had been at variance, were peacefully united and 
moulded into one people. He was nephew to King Edwin 
by his sister Acha ; and it was fit that so great a prede- 
cessor should have in his own family so great a person to 
succeed him in his religion and sovereignty. 



136 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER VII. 

HOW THE WEST SAXONS RECEIVED THE WORD OF GOD BY THE 
PREACHING OF BIRINUS ; AND OF HIS SUCCESSORS, AGILBERT 
AND LEUTHERIUS. 

A D 63" ^^ ^^^^^ time, the West Saxons, formerly 

called Gevissse, in the reign of Cynegilsus, em- 
braced the faith of Christ, at the preaching of Bishop 
Birinus, who came into Britain by the advice of Pope 
Honorius ; having promised in his presence that he would 
sow the seed of the holy faith in the inner parts beyond 
the dominions of the English, where no other teacher had 
been before him. Hereupon he received episcopal conse- 
cration from Asterius, Bishop of Genoa ; but on his arrival 
in Britain, he first entered the nation of the Gevisseans, 
and finding all there most confirmed Pagans, he thought it 
better to preach the word of God there, than to proceed 
further to seek for others to preach to. Now, as he 
preached in the aforesaid province, it happened that the 
king himself, having been catechised, was baptized together 
with his people, and Oswald, the most holy and victorious 
king of the Northumbrians, being present, received him as 
he came forth from baptism, and by an alliance most 
pleasing and acceptable to God, first adopted him, thus 
regenerated, for his son, and then took his daughter in 
marriage. The two kings gave to the bishop the city 
called Dorcic, there to settle his episcopal see ; where hav- 
ing built and consecrated churches, and by his labour 
called many to the Lord, he departed this life, and was 
buried in the same city ; but many years after, when Hedde 
was bishop, he was translated thence to the city of Win- 
chester, and laid in the church of the blessed apostles, 
Peter and Paul. 

The king also dying, his son Coinwalch succeeded him in 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 137 

the throne, but refused to embrace the mysteries of the 
faith, and of the heavenly kingdom ; and not long after also 
he lost the dominion of his earthly kingdom ; for he put 
away the sister of Penda, King of the Mercians, whom he 
had married, and took another wife ; whereupon a war 
ensuing, he was by him expelled his kingdom, and with- 
drew to Anna, King of the East Saxons, where living three 
years in banishment, he found and received the true faith, 
and was baptized ; for the king, with whom he lived in his 
banishment, was a good man, and happy in a good and 
pious offspring, as we shall show hereafter. But when 
Coinwalch was restored to his kingdom, there came into 
that province out of Ireland, a certain bishop called Agil- 
bert, by nation a Frenchman, but who had then lived a 
long time in Ireland, for the purpose of reading the Scrip- 
tures. This bishop came of his own accord to serve this 
king, and preach to him the word of life. The king, ob- 
serving his erudition and industry, desired him to accept 
an episcopal see, and stay there as his bishop. Agilbert 
complied with the prince's request, and presided over those 
people many years. At length the king, who understood 
none but the language of the Saxons, grown weary of that 
bishop's barbarous tongue, brought into the province 
another bishop of his own nation, whose name was Wini, 
who had been ordained in France ; and dividing his pro- 
vince into tw^o dioceses, appointed this last his episcopal 
see in the city of Winchester, by the Saxons called Vinta- 
cestir. Agilbert, being highly offended, that the king 
should do this without his advice, returned into France, 
and being made bishop of the city of Paris, died there, 
aged and full of days. Not many years after his departure 
out of Britain, Wini was also expelled from his bishopric, 
and took refuge with Wulfhere, King of the ^Mercians, of 
whom he purchased for money the see of the city of Lon- 
don, and remained bishop thereof till his death. Thus the 
province of the West Saxons continued no small time with- 



138 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

out a bishop. During which time, the king of that nation, 
sustaining very great losses in his kingdom from his ene- 
mies, at length bethought himself, that as he had been 
before expelled from his kingdom for his infidelity, and had 
been restored when he received the faith of Christ, his 
kingdom being destitute of a bishop, was justly deprived of 
the Divine protection. He, therefore, sent messengers into 
France to Agilbert, humbly entreating him to return to 
the bishopric of his nation. But he excused himself, and 
affirmed that he could not go, because he was tied to the 
bishopric of his o^vn city; however, that he might not 
seem to refuse him assistance, he sent in his stead thither 
the priest Leutherius, his nephew, who, if he thought fit, 
might be ordained his bishop, saying, " He thought him 
worthy of a bishopric." The king and the people received 
him honourably, and entreated Theodorus, then archbishop 
of Canterbury, to consecrate him their bishop. He was 
accordingly consecrated in the same city, and many years 
zealously governed the whole bishopric of the West Saxons 
by s}iiodical authority. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



HOW EARCONBERT, KING OF KENT, ORDERED THE IDOLS TO BE 
DESTROYED ; AND OF HIS DAUGHTER E ARGON GOTA, AND HIS 
KINSW^OMAN ETHILBERGA, VIRGINS CONSECRATED TO GOD. 

In the year of our Lord 640, Eadbald, king of Kent, 
departed this life, and left his kingdom to his son Earcon- 
bert, which he most nobly governed twenty-four years and 
some months. He was the first of the English kings that 
of his supreme authority commanded the idols, throughout 
his whole kingdom, to be forsaken and destroyed, and the 
fast of forty days before Easter to be observed ; and that 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 139 

the same might not be neglected, he appointed proper and 
condign punishments for the offenders. His daughter Ear- 
congota, as became the offspring of such a parent, was a 
most virtuous virgin, always serving God in a monastery in 
France, built by a most noble abbess, called Fara, at a 
place called In Brige ; for at that time but few monasteries 
being built in the country of the Angles, many were wont, 
for the sake of monastical conversation, to repair to the 
monasteries of the Franks or Gauls; and they also sent 
their daughters there to be instructed, and delivered to 
their heavenly bridegroom, especially in the monasteries of 
Brige, of Cale, and Andilegum. Among whom was also 
Saethryth, daughter of the wife of Anna, king of the East 
Angles, above-mentioned ; and Ethilberga, natural daughter 
of the same king, both of whom, though strangers, were 
for their virtue made abbesses of the monastery of Brige. 
Sexburga, that king's eldest daughter, wife to Earconbert, 
King of Kent, had a daughter called Earcongota, of whom 
we are to speak. Many wonderful works and miracles of 
this virgin, dedicated to God, are to this day related by the 
inhabitants of that place; but it shall suffice us to say 
something briefly of her passage out of this world to the 
heavenly kingdom. The day of her departure dramng 
near, she visited the cells of the infirm servants of Christ, 
and particularly those that w^ere of a great age, or most 
noted for probity of life, and humbly recommending herself 
to their prayers, let them know that her death was at 
hand, as she knew by revelation, which she said she had 
received in this manner. She had seen a number of men, 
all in white, come into the monastery, and being asked by 
her, " What they wanted, and what they did there V they 
answered, " They had been sent thither to carry away with 
them the gold medal that had been brought thither from 
Kent. That same night, at the dawn of morning, leaving the 
darkness of this world, she departed to the light of heaven. 
Many of the brethren of that monastery that were in other 



140 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

houses, declared they had then plainly heard concerts of 
angels singing, and the noise as it were of a multitude 
entering the monastery. Whereupon going out imme- 
diately to see what it might be, they saw an extraordinary 
great light coming down from heaven, which conducted that 
holy soul, set loose from the bonds of the flesh, to the 
eternal joys of the celestial country. They add other 
miracles that were wrought the same night in the same 
monastery ; but as we must proceed to other matters, we 
leave them to be related by those to whom such things 
belong. The body of this venerable virgin and bride of 
Christ was buried in the church of the blessed protomartyr, 
Stephen. It was thought fit, three days after, to take up 
the stone that covered the grave, and to raise it higher in 
the same place, which whilst they were doing, so great a 
fragrancy of perfume rose from below, that it seemed to all 
the brothers and sisters there present, as if a store of the 
richest iDalsams had been opened. Her step-mother also, 
Ethill)erga above-mentioned, preserved the glory so pleasing 
to God, of perpetual virginity, in great continency of body, 
but how great her vii-tue was became more conspicuous 
after her death. Whilst she was abbess, she began to 
build in her monastery a church, in honour of all the ajjos- 
tles, wherein she desired her body might be buried ; but 
when that work was advanced half way, she was prevented 
by death from finishing it, and buried in the very place of 
the chmTh where she had desired. After her death, the 
brothers occupied themselves with other things, and this 
structure was intermitted for seven years, at the expiration 
whereof they resolved, by reason of the greatness of the 
work, wholly to lay aside the building of the church, but 
to remove the abbess's bones from thence to some other 
church that was finished and consecrated ; but, on opening 
her tomb, they found the body as free from decay as it had 
been from the corruption of carnal concupiscence, and 
having washed it again and put on it other clothes, they 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 141 

removed the same to the church of St. Stephen, martyr, 
whose nativity (or commemoration day) is celebrated with 
much magnificence on the day of the nones of July. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THAT MIRACULOUS CURES HAVE BEEN FREQUENTLY DONE IN THE 
PLACE WHERE KING OSWALD WAS KILLED ; AND THAT FIRST, A 
traveller's horse, and AFTERWARDS A YOUNG GIRL WAS 
CURED OF A PALSY. 

Oswald, the most Christian king of the Northumbrians, 
reigned nine years, including that year which is to be held 
accursed for the brutal impiety of the King of the Britons, 
and the apostacy of the English kings ; for, as was said 
above, it is agreed by the unanimous consent of all, that 
the names of the apostates should be erased from the cata- 
logue of the Christian kings, and no date ascribed to their 
reign. After which period, Oswald was killed in a great 
battle, by the same Pagan nation and Pagan king of the 
Mercians, by whom his predecessor Edwin had been slain," 
at a place called in the English tongue, Maserfeth, in the 
thirty-eighth year of his age, on the 5th day of the month 
of August. How great his faith was towards God, and how 
remarkable his devotion, has been made evident by miracles 
since his death ; for in the place where he was killed by the 
Pagans, fighting for his country, infirm men and cattle are 
healed to this day. Whereupon many took up the very 
dust of the place where his body fell, and putting it into 
water, thereby did much good to their friends who were 
sick. This custom came so much into use, that the earth 
being carried away by degrees, there remained a hole as 
deep as the height of a man. Nor is it to be wondered 
that the sick should be healed in the place where he died ; 



142 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

for, whilst he lived, he never ceased to provide for the poor 
and infirm, and to bestow alms on them and assist them. 
IMany miracles are said to have been wrought in that place, 
or with the earth carried from thence : but we have thouo-ht 
it sufficient to mention two, which we heard from our 
ancestors. It happened, not long after his death, that a 
man was travelling near that place, when his horse on a 
sudden began to tire, to stand stock still, hang down his 
head, and foam at the mouth, and, at length, as his pain 
increased, he fell to the ground ; the rider dismounted, and 
throwing some straw under him, waited to see whether the 
beast would recover or die. At length, after much rolling 
about with the extreme anguish, the horse happened to 
come to the very place where the aforesaid king died. 
Immediately the pain ceased, the beast gave over his strug- 
gles, and, as is usual with tired cattle, turned gently from 
side to side, and then starting up, perfectly recovered, 
began to graze along the green fields, which the man ob- 
serving, being an ingenious person, he concluded there 
must be some wonderful sanctity in the place where the 
horse had been healed, and left a mark there, that he might 
know the spot again. After which he again mounted his 
horse, and repaired to the inn where he intended to stop. 
On his arrival he found a girl, niece to the landlord, who 
had long languished under a palsy ; and when the friends 
of the family, in his presence, lamented the girPs calamity, 
he gave them an account of the place where his horse had 
been cured. In short, she was put into a cart and carried 
and laid down at the place. At first she slept awhile, and 
when she awaked found herself healed of her infirmity. 
Upon which she called for water, washed her face, put up 
her hair, and dressed her head, and returned home on 
foot, in good health, with those who had brought her. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 143 



CHAPTER X. 

THE POWER OF THE EARTH OF THAT PLACE AGAINST FIRE. 

About the same time, another person of the British 
nation, as is reported, happened to travel by the same 
place, where the aforesaid battle was fought, and observing 
one particular spot of ground greener and more beautiful 
than any other part of the field, he judiciously concluded 
with himself that there could be no other cause for that 
unusual greenness, but that some person of more hohness 
than any other in the army had been killed there. He, 
therefore, took along with him some of that earth, tying it 
up in a linen cloth, supposing it would some time or other 
be of use for curing sick people, and proceeding on his 
journey, came at night to a certain village, and entered a 
house where the neighbours were feasting at supper ; being 
received by the owners of the house, he sat down with them 
at the entertainment, hanging the cloth, in which he had 
brought the earth, on a post against the wall. They sat 
long at supper and drank hard, with a great fire in the 
middle of the room ; it happened that the sparks flew up 
and caught the top of the house, which being made of 
wattles and thatch, was presently in a flame ; the guests 
ran out in a fright, without being able to put a stop to the 
fire. The house was consequently burnt down, only that 
post on which the earth hung remained entire and un- 
touched. On observing this, they were all amazed, and 
inquiring into it diligently, understood that the earth had 
been taken from the place where the blood of King Oswald 
had been shed. These miracles being made known and 
reported abroad, many began daily to frequent that place, 
and received health to themselves and theirs. 



144 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XL 

OF THE HEAVENLY LIGHT THAT APPEARED ALL THE NIGHT OVER 
THE BONES OF KING OSWALD, AND THAT PERSONS POSSESSED 
WITH DEVILS WERE DELIVERED BY THEM. 

Among the rest, I think we ought not to pass over, in 
silence, the heavenly favours and miracles that were shown 
when King Oswald's bones were found, and translated into 
the church where they are now preserved. This was done 
by Osfrida, Queen of the Mercians, the daughter of his 
brother Oswin, who reigned after him, as shall be said here- 
after. There is a noble monastery in the province of Lind- 
sey, called Beardaneu, which that queen and her husband 
Ethelfrid much loved, and conferred upon it many honours 
and ornaments. It was here that she was desirous to lay 
the venerable bones of her uncle. When the waggon in 
which those bones were carried arrived towards evening at 
the aforesaid monastery, they that were in it refused to 
admit them, because, though they knew him to be a holy 
man, yet, as he was originally of another province, and 
had reigned over them as a foreign king, they retained 
their ancient aversion to him even after death. Thus it 
came to pass that the relics were left in the open air all 
that night, with only a large tent spread over them ; but 
the appearance of a heavenly miracle showed with how 
much reverence they ought to be received by all the faith- 
ful ; for during that whole night, a pillar of light, reaching 
from the waggon up to heaven, was seen by almost all the 
inhabitants of the province of Lindsey. Hereupon in the 
morning, the brethren who had refused it the day before, 
began themselves earnestly to pray that those holy relics, 
so beloved by God, might be deposited among them/ Ac- 
cordingly, the bones, being washed, were put into a shrine 
which they had made for that purpose, and placed in the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 145 

church, with due honour : and that there might be a per- 
petual memorial of the royal person of this holy man, they 
hung up over the monument his banner made of gold and 
purple ; and poured out the water in which they had 
washed the bones, in a corner of the sacred place. From 
that time, the very earth which received that holy water, 
had the virtue of expelling devils from the bodies of persons 
possessed. In short, when the aforesaid queen afterwards 
made some stay in that monastery, there came to visit her 
a certain venerable abbess, who is still living, called Ethil- 
hild, the sister of the holy men, Ethel win and Aldwin, the 
first of which was bishop in the province of Lindsey, the 
other abbot of the monastery of Peartaneu ; not far from 
which was the monastery of Ethilhild : when this lady was 
come, in a conversation between her and the queen, the 
discourse, among other things, turning upon Oswald, she 
said, that she also had that night seen a light reaching from 
the relics up to heaven. The queen thereupon added, that 
the very dust of the pavement, on which the water that 
washed the bones had been spilt, had already healed many 
sick persons. The abbess thereupon desired that some of 
the said dust might be given her, which she tied up in a 
cloth, and putting it into a casket, returned home. Some 
time after, when she was in her monastery, there came to 
it a guest, who was wont often in the night to be on a 
sudden grievously tormented with an evil spirit : he being 
hospitably entertained, and gone to bed after supper, was 
on a sudden seized by the devil, and began to cry out, to 
gnash his teeth, to foam at the mouth, and to distort his 
limbs in a most strange manner. None being able to hold 
or bind him, the servant ran, and knocking at the door, ac- 
quainted the abbess. She, opening the monastery door, 
went out herself with one of the nuns to the men's apart- 
ment, and calling a priest, desired he would go with her to 
the sufferer. Being come thither, and seeing many more 
present, who had not been able, though they endeavoured 



146 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

it, to hold the tormented person and prevent his convulsive 
motions, the priest used exorcisms, and did all he could to 
assuage the madness of the unfortunate man, but though 
he took much pains, could not prevail. When no hopes 
appeared of easing him, the abbess bethought herself of the 
dust, and immediately ordered her servant to go and fetch 
her the casket in which it was. As soon as she came with 
what she had been sent for into the porch of the house, in 
the inner part whereof the possessed person was tormented, 
he was presently silent, and laid down his head, as if he 
had been falling asleep, stretching out all his limbs to rest. 
All present were silent, and stood attentive to see the end 
of the affair. After some time, the man that had been 
tormented sat up, and fetching a deep sigh, said, " Now T 
am like a sound man, for I am restored to my senses." 
They earnestly inquired how that came to pass, and he 
answered, " As soon as that virgin drew near the porch 
of this house, with the casket she brought, all the evil 
spirits that vexed me departed, and were no more to be 
seen." Then the abbess gave him a little of that dust, and 
the priest having prayed, he had a very quiet night ; nor 
did he, from that time forward, receive the least disturbance 
from his old enemy. 



CHAPTER XII. 

OF A BOY CURED OF AN AGUE AT ST. OSWALd's TOMB. 

Some time after, there was a certain little boy in the said 
monastery, who had been long troubled with an ague ; he 
was one day anxiously expecting the hour when his fit was 
to come on, when one of the brothers, coming in to him, 
said, " Shall t tell you, child, how you may be cured of 
this distemper. Rise, go into the church, and get close to 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 147 

St. Oswald's tomb ; stay there, and stick to it quietly ; 
take heed not to come away, or stir from the place, till the 
time that your fit is to go off; then I will go in and fetch 
you away." The boy did as he was advised, and the 
disease durst not affect him as he sat by the saint's tomb ; 
but fled so absolutely, that he felt it no more, either the 
second or third day, or ever after. The brother that came 
from thence, and told me this, added, that at the time 
when he was talking with me, the young man was then still 
living in the monastery, on whom, when a boy, that mira- 
culous cure had been wrought. Nor is it to be wondered 
that the prayers of that king, who was then reigning with 
our Lord, should be very efficacious with him, since he, 
whilst yet governing his temporal kingdom, was also wont 
to pray and take more pains for that which is eternal. In 
short, it is reported, that he often continued in prayer from 
the hour of morning thanksgiving till it was day ; and that 
by reason of his constant custom of praying or giving 
thanks to God, he was wont always, wherever he sat, to 
hold his hands turned up on his knees. It is also given 
out, and become a proverb, " That he ended his life in 
prayer ;" for when he was beset with weapons and enemies, 
he perceived he must be immediately killed, and prayed to 
God for the souls of his army. Whence it is proverbially 
said, " Lord have mercy on their souls, said Oswald, as he 
fell to the ground." His bones, therefore, were translated 
to the monastery which we have mentioned, and buried 
therein : but the king that slew him, commanded his head, 
hands, and arms to be cut off from the body, and set upon 
stakes. But his successor in the throne, Oswin, coming 
thither the next year with his army, took them down, and 
buried his head in the church of Lindisfarn, and the hands 
and arms in his royal city. 



L 2 



148 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XIII. 

OF A CERTAIN PERSON IN IRELAND THAT WAS RECOVERED, WHEN 
AT THE POINT OP DEATH, BY THE BONES OF KING OSWALD. 

Nor was the fame of the renowned Oswald confined to 
Britain, but spreading the rays of his heahng brightness 
even beyond the sea, reached also to Germany and Ireland. 
In short, the most reverend prelate, Acca, is wont to relate, 
that when in his journey to Home, he and his bishop Wil- 
frid stayed some time with Wilbrod, now the holy bishop 
of the Prisons, he had often heard him talk of the wonders 
which had been wrought in that province at the relics of 
that most reverend king. And that in Ireland, when, 
being yet only a priest, he led a pilgrim's life therein 
for love of the eternal country, the fame of that king's 
sanctity was already spread far and near. One of the 
miracles, among the rest, which he related, we have thought 
fit to insert in our history. At the time, said he, of the 
mortality which made such great havoc in Britain and 
Ireland, among the rest, the infection reached a certain 
scholar of the Scottish race, a man indeed learned in 
worldly literature, but in no way solicitous or studious of 
his eternal salvation ; who, seeing his death near at hand, 
began to fear, lest as soon as he was dead he should be 
hurried away to hell for his sins. He sent for me, who 
was in that neighbourhood, and whilst he was trembling 
and sighing, with a mournful voice made his complaint to 
me, in this manner : ^' You see that my distemper increases, 
and that I am now reduced to the point of death. Nor do 
I question but that after the death of my body, I shall be 
immediately snatched away to the perpetual death of my 
soul, and cast into the torments of hell, since for a long 
time, amidst all my reading of divine books, I have rather 
addicted myself to vice, than to keep the commandments of 
God. But it is my resolution, if the Divine mercy shall 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 149 

grant me a new term of life, to correct my vicious habits, 
and totally to reform my mind and course of life in obedi- 
ence to the Divine will. But I am sensible, that I have no 
merits of my own to obtain a prolongation of life, nor can I 
confide in it, unless it shall please God to forgive me, 
through the assistance of those who have faithfully served 
him. We have heard, and the report is universal, that 
there was in your nation a king, of wonderful sanctity, called 
Oswald, the excellency of whose faith and virtue is become 
renowned even after his death by the working of miracles. 
I beseech you, if you have any relics of his in your custody, 
that you will bring the same to me ; in case the Lord shall 
be pleased, through his merits, to have mercy on me." I 
answered, " I have indeed some of the stake on which his 
head was set up by the Pagans, when he was killed, and if 
you believe, with a sincere heart, the Divine goodness may, 
through the merit of so great a man, both grant you a 
longer term of life here, and render you worthy of admit- 
tance into eternal life." He answered immediately, *' That 
he had entire faith therein.'"* Then I blessed some water, 
and put into it a chip of the aforesaid oak, and gave it the 
sick man to drink. He presently found ease, and recover- 
ing of his sickness, lived a long time after, and being en- 
tirely converted to God in heart and actions, wherever he 
came, he spoke of the goodness of his merciful Creator, and 
the honour of his faithful servant. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



ON THE DEATH OF PAULINUS, ITHAMAR WAS MADE BISHOP OF 
ROCHESTER IN HIS STEAD. OF THE WONDERFUL HUMILITY 
OF KING OS WIN, WHO WAS CRUELLY SLAIN BY OSWI. 

Oswald being translated to the heavenly kingdom, his 
brother Oswi, a young man of about thirty years of age, sue- 



150 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

ceeded him on the throne of his earthly kingdom, and held 
it twenty-eight years with much trouble, being harassed by 
the Pagan king, Penda, and by the Pagan nation of the 
Mercians, that had slain his brother, as also by his son 
Alhfrid, and by his cousin-german Ethilwald, the son of his 
brother who reigned before him. In his second year, that 
is in the year of our Lord 644, the most reverend Father 
Paulinus, formerly bishop of York, but then of the city of 
Rochester, departed to our Lord, on the 6th day of the 
ides of October, having held the bishopric nineteen years, 
two months, and twenty-one days ; and was buried in the 
sacristy of the blessed apostle Andrew, which King Ethil- 
bert had built from the foundation, in the same city of 
Rochester. In his place, Archbishop Honorius ordained 
Ithamar, of the Kentish nation, but not inferior to his pre- 
decessors for learning and conduct of life. 

Oswi, during the first part of his reign, had a partner in 
this royal dignity called Oswin, of the race of King Edwin, 
and son to Osric, of whom we have spoken above, a man of 
wonderful piety and devotion, who governed the province of 
the Deiri seven years in very great prosperity, and was 
himself beloved by all men. But Oswi, who governed all the 
other northern part of the nation beyond the Humber, that 
is, the province of the Bernicians, could not live at peace with 
him ; but, on the contrary, the causes of their disagreement 
being heightened, he murdered him most cruelly. For 
when they had raised armies against one another, Oswin 
perceived that he could not maintain a war against one 
who had more auxiliaries than himself, and he thought it 
better at that time to lay aside all thoughts of engaging, 
and to preserve himself for better times. He therefore 
dismissed the army which he had assembled, and ordered 
all his men to return to their own homes, from the place 
that is called Wilfares-dun, that is, Wilfares-hill, which is 
almost ten miles distant from the village called Cataract, 
towards the north-west. He himself, with only one trusty 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 151 

soldier, whose name was Tondhere, withdrew and lay con- 
cealed in the house of Earl Hunwald, whom he imagined to 
be his most assured friend. But, alas ! it was otherwise ; 
for the earl betrayed him, and Oswi, in a detestable man- 
ner, by the hands of his commander, Ethilwin, slew him and 
the soldier aforesaid. This happened on the 18th day of 
the kalends of September, in the ninth year of his reign, 
at a place called Ingethingum, where afterwards, to atone 
for this crime, a monastery was built, wherein prayers were 
to be daily offered up to God for the souls of both kings, that 
is, of him that was murdered, and of him that commanded 
him to be killed. King Oswin was of a graceful aspect, 
and tall of stature, affable in discourse, and courteous in 
behaviour; and most bountiful, as well to the ignoble as 
the noble ; so that he was beloved by all men for his qua- 
lities of body and mind, and persons of the first rank came 
from almost all provinces to serve him. Among other 
virtues and rare endowments, if I may so express it, hu- 
mility is said to have been the greatest, which it will suffice 
to prove by one example. He had given an extraordinary 
fine horse to Bishop Aidan, which he might either use in 
crossing rivers, or in performing a journey upon any urgent 
necessity, though he was wont to travel ordinarily on foot. 
Some short time after, a poor man meeting him, and asking 
an alms, he immediately dismounted, and ordered the horse, 
with all his royal furniture, to be given to the beggar ; for 
he was very compassionate, a great friend to the poor, and, 
as it were, the father of the wretched. This being told to 
the king, when they were going in to dinner, he said to 
the bishop, " Why would you, my lord bishop, give the 
poor man that royal horse, which was necessary for your 
use ? Had not we many other horses of less value, and of 
other sorts, which would have been good enough to give to 
the poor, and not to give that horse, which I had particu- 
larly chosen for yourself f' To whom the bishop readily 
answered, " What is it you say, O king? Is that foal more 



152 ' THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

dear to you than the Son of God r Upon this they went 
in to dinner, and the bishop sat in his place ; but the king, 
who was come from hunting, stood warming himself, with 
his attendants, at the fire. Then, on a sudden, whilst he 
was warming, calling to mind what the bishop had said to 
him, he ungirt his sword, and gave it to a servant, and in 
a hasty manner fell down at the bishop's feet, beseeching 
him to forgive him ; " For from this time forward," said 
he, "I will never speak any more of this, nor will I judge 
of what, or how much of our money you shall give to the 
sons of God." The bishop was much moved at this sight, 
and starting up, raised him, saying, " He was entirely re- 
conciled to him, if he would sit down to his meat, and lay 
aside all sorrow." The king, at the bishop's command and 
request, beginning to be merry, the bishop, on the other 
hand, gTew so melancholy as to shed tears. His priest 
then asking him, in the language of his country, which the 
king and his servants did not understand, why he wept, " I 
know," said he, " that the king will not live long ; for I 
never before saw a humble king ; whence I conclude that 
he will soon be snatched out of this life, because this nation 
is not worthy of such a ruler." Not long after, the bishop's 
prediction was fulfilled by the king's death, as has been said 
above. But Bishop Aidan himself was also taken out of 
this world, twelve days after the king he loved, the day 
before the kalends of September, to receive the eternal 
reward of his labours from our Lord. 



CHAPTER XV. 



HOW BISHOP AIDAN FORETOLD TO CERTAIN SEAMEN A STORM THAT 
. WOULD HAPPEN, AND GAVE THEM SOME HOLY OIL TO LAY IT. 

How great the merits of Aidan were, was made manifest 
by the all-seeing Judge, with the testimony of miracles, 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 153 

whereof it will suffice to mention three as a memorial. A 
certain priest, whose name was Utta, a man of great gra- 
vity and sincerity, and on that account honoured by all 
men, even the princes of the w^orld, being ordered to Kent, 
to bring from thence, as wife for King Os^\y, Eanfleda, the 
daughter of King Edwin, who had been carried thither 
when her father was killed ; and intending to go thither 
by land, but to return with the virgin by sea, repaired to 
Bishop Aidan, entreating him to offer up his prayers to our 
Lord for him and his company, who were then to set out 
on their journey. He, blessing and recommending them 
to our Lord, at the same time gave them some holy oil, 
saying, " I know that when you go abroad, you will meet 
with a storm and contrary wind ; but do you remember to 
cast this oil I give you into the sea, and the wind shall 
cease immediately, you will have pleasant calm weather, 
and return home safe." All which fell out as the bishop 
had predicted. For in the first place, the winds raging, 
the sailors endeavoured to ride it out at anchor, but all to 
no purpose ; for the sea breaking in on all sides, and the ship 
beginning to be filled mth water, they all concluded that 
certain death was at hand ; the priest at last remembering 
the bishop's words, laid hold of the phial and cast some of 
the oil into the sea, which, as had been foretold, became 
presently calm. Thus it came to pass that the man of 
God, by the spirit of prophecy, foretold the storm that was 
to happen, and by virtue of the same spirit, though absent, 
appeased the same. Which miracle was not told me by a 
person of little credit, but by C}Tiemund, a most faithful 
priest of our church, who declared that it was related to 
him by Utta, the priest, on and by whom the same was 
^^rought. 



154 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HOW THE SAME AIDAN, BY HIS PRAYERS, SAVED THE ROYAL 
CITY WHEN FIRED BY THE ENEMY. 

Another notable miracle of the same father is related by 
many such as were likely to have knowledge thereof; for 
during the time that he was bishop, the hostile army of the 
Mercians, under the command of Penda, cruelly ravaged 
the country of the Northumbrians far and near, even to the 
royal city, which has its name from Bebba, formerly its 
queen. Not being able to enter it by force, or by a long 
siege, he endeavoured to burn it ; and having destroyed all 
the villages in the neighbourhood of the city, he brought 
to it an immense quantity of planks, beams, wattles and 
thatch, wherewith he encompassed the place to a great 
height on the land side, and when the wind set upon it, 
firing the mass, designed to burn the town. At that time, 
the most reverend Bishop Aidan resided in the isle of 
Fame, which is nearly two miles from the city ; for thither 
he was wont often to retire to pray in private, that he might 
be undisturbed. Indeed, this solitary residence of his is 
to this day shown in that island. When he saw the flames 
of fire and the smoke carried by the boisterous wind above 
the city walls, he is reported, with eyes and hands lifted up 
to heaven, to have said, " Behold, Lord, how great mis- 
chief Penda does !" Which words were hardly uttered, 
when the wind immediately turning from the city, drove 
back the flames upon those who had kindled them, so that 
some being hurt, and all frightened, they forbore any fur- 
ther attempts against the city, which they perceived was 
protected by the hand of God. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 155 



CHAPTER XVII. 

HOW THE POST OF THE CHURCH OX WHICH BISHOP AIDAN WAS 
LEANING WHEN HE DIED, COULD NOT BE BURNT WHEN THE 
REST OF THE CHURCH WAS CONSUMED BY FIRE ; AND OF HIS 
INWARD LIFE. 

AiDAN was in the king's country-house, not far from the 
city of which we have spoken above, at the time when death 
separated him from his body, after he had been bishop 
seventeen years ; for having a church and a chamber there, 
he was wont often to go and stay there, and to make excur- 
sions to preach in the country round about, which he hke- 
wise did at other of the king's country seats, having nothing 
of his own besides his church and a few fields about it. 
When he was sick they set up a tent for him close to the 
wall at the west end of the church, by which means it hap- 
pened that he gave up the ghost, leaning against a post 
that was on the outside to strengthen the wall. He died 
in the seventeenth year of his episcopacy, the day before 
the kalends of September. His body was thence translated 
to the isle of Lindisfarn, and buried in the church-yard 
belonging to the brethren. Some time after, when a larger 
church was built there, and dedicated in honour of the most 
blessed prince of the apostles, his bones were translated 
thither, and deposited on the right hand of the altar, with 
the respect due to so great a prelate. Finan, who had 
likewise come from the same monastery of Hii in the Scot- 
tish island, succeeded him, and continued a considerable 
time in the bishopric. It happened some years after, that 
Penda, king of the Mercians, coming into these parts with 
a hostile army, destroyed all he could with fire and sword, 
and burned down the village and church above-mentioned, 
where the bishop died ; but it fell out in a wonderful man- 
ner that the post, which he had leaned upon when he died, 



156 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

could not be consumed by the fire which consumed all 
about It. This miracle being taken notice of, the church 
was soon rebuilt in the same place, and that very post was 
set up on the outside, as it had been before, to strengthen 
the wall. It happened again, some time after, that the 
same village and church were burned down the second time, 
and even then the fire could not touch that post ; and when 
in a most miraculous manner the fire broke through the 
very holes in it wherewith it was fixed to the building, and 
destroyed the church, yet it could do no hurt to the said 
post. The church being therefore built there the third 
time, they did not, as before, place that post on the out- 
side as a support, but within, as a memorial of the miracle ; 
and the people coming in were wont to kneel there, and 
implore the Divine mercy. And it is manifest that since 
then many have been healed in that same place, as also 
that chips being cut off from that post, and put into water, 
have healed many from their distempers. I have written 
thus much concerning the person and works of the afore- 
said Aidan, in no way commending or approving what he 
imperfectly understood in relation to the observance of 
Easter ; nay, very much detesting the same, as I have most 
manifestly proved in the book I have written, " De Tem- 
poribus;'' but, like an impartial historian, relating what 
was done by or with him, and commending such things as 
are praiseworthy in his actions, and preserving the memory 
thereof for the benefit of the readers ; viz. his love of peace 
and charity; his continence and humility; his mind superior 
to anger and avarice, and despising pride and vainglory ; 
his industry in keeping and teaching the heavenly com- 
mandments ; his diligence in reading and watching ; his 
authority becoming a priest in reproving the haughty and 
powerful, and at the same time his tenderness in comforting 
the afilicted, and relieving or defending the poor. To say 
all in a few words, as near as I could be informed by those 
that knew him, he took care to omit none of those things 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 157 

which he found in the apostohcal or prophetic writings, but 
to the utmost of his power endeavoured to perform them 
all. These things 1 much love and admire in the aforesaid 
bishop; because I do not doubt that they were pleasing to 
God; but I do not praise or approve his not observing 
Easter at the proper time, either through ignorance of the 
canonical time appointed, or if he knew it, being prevailed 
on by the authority of his nation, not to follow^ the same. 
Yet this I approve in him, that in the celebration of his 
Easter, the object which he had in view in all he said, did, 
or preached, was the same as ours, that is, the redemption 
of mankind, through the passion, resurrection and ascen- 
sion into heaven of the man Jesus Christ, who is the 
mediator betwixt God and man. And therefore he always 
celebrated the same, not as some falsely imagine, on the 
fourteenth moon, like the Jews, whatsoever the day was, 
but on the Lord's day, from the fourteenth to the twentieth 
moon, and this he did from his belief of the resurrection of 
our Lord happening on the day after the Sabbath, and for 
the hope of our resurrection, which also he, with the holy 
Church, believed w ould happen on the day after the Sabbath, 
now called the Lord's Day. 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE RELIGIOUS KING SIGBERCHT. 

At this time, the kingdom of the East Angles, after the 
death of Eorpwald, the successor of Redwald, was subject 
to his brother Sigbercht, a good and religious man, who 
long before had been baptized in France, whilst he lived in 
banishment, flying from the enmity of Redwald ; and re- 
turning home, as soon as he ascended the throne, being 
desirous to imitate the good institutions which he had seen 



158 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

in France, he set up a school for youth to be instructed in 
literature, and was assisted therein by Bishop Felix, who 
came to him from Kent, and who furnished them with 
masters and teachers after the manner of that country ; 
and that king became so great a lover of the heavenly 
kingdom, that quitting the affairs of his crown, and com- 
mitting the same to his kinsman Ecgric, who before held a 
part of that kingdom, he went himself into a monastery, 
which he had built, and having received the tonsure, ap- 
plied himself rather to gain a heavenly throne. Some time 
after this, it happened that the nation of the Mercians, 
under King Penda, made war on the East Angles ; who 
finding themselves inferior in martial affairs to their enemy, 
entreated Sigbercht to go with them to battle, to en- 
courage the soldiers. He refused, upon which they drew 
him against his will out of the monastery, and carried him 
to the army, hoping that the soldiers would be less disposed 
to flee in the presence of him, who had once been a notable 
and brave commander. But he, still keeping in mind his 
profession, whilst in the midst of a royal army, would carry 
nothing in his hand but a wand, and was killed with King 
Ecgric, and the Pagans pressing on, all their army was 
either slaughtered or dispersed. Anna, the son of Eni, of 
the blood royal, a good man, and father of an excellent 
family of children, succeeded them in the kingdom. Of 
whom we shall speak hereafter ; he being also slain by the 
same Pagan commander as his predecessor had been. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



HOW FURSIUS BUILT A MONASTERY AMONG THE EAST ANGLES, 
AND OF HIS VISIONS AND SANCTITY, OF WHICH, HIS FLESH 
REMAINING UNCORRUPTED AFTER DEATH, BORE TESTIMONY. 

Whilst Sigbercht still governed the kingdom, there 
came out of Ireland a holy man called Fursius, renowned 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 159 

both for his words and actions, and remarkable for singular 
virtues, being desirous to live a stranger for our Lord, 
wherever an opportunity should offer. On coming into the 
province of the East Saxons, he was honourably received 
by the aforesaid king, and performing his usual employ- 
ment of preaching the gospel, by the example of his virtue 
and the efficacy of his discourse, converted many unbe- 
lievers to Christ, and confirmed in his faith and love those 
that already believed. Being fallen into some infirmity of 
body, he was thought worthy to see a vision from God ; 
in which he was admonished diligently to proceed in the 
ministry of the word which he had undertaken, and inde- 
fatigably to continue his usual watching and prayers ; inas- 
much as his end was certain, but the hour of it would be 
uncertain, according to the saying of our Lord, " Watch 
ye therefore, because ye know not the day nor the hour." 
Being confirmed by this vision, he applied himself with all 
speed to build a monastery on the ground which had been 
given him by King Sigbercht, and to establish regular dis- 
cipline therein. This monastery was pleasantly situated in 
the woods, and with the sea not far off; it was built within 
the area of a castle, which in the English language is called 
Cnobheresburg, that is, Cnobher's town ; afterwards, Anna, 
king of that province, and the nobility, embellished it with 
more stately buildings and donations. This man was of 
noble Scottish blood, but much more noble in mind than in 
birth. From his boyish years, he had particularly applied 
himself to reading sacred books, and following monastic 
discipline, and, as is most becoming holy men, he carefully 
practised all that he learned was to be done. In short, 
he built himself the monastery, wherein he might with 
more freedom indulge his heavenly studies. There, falling 
sick, as the book about his life informs us, he fell into a 
trance, and quitting his body from the evening till the cock 
crew, he was found worthy to behold the choirs of angels, 
and to hear the praises which are sung in heaven. He was 



160 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

wont to declare, that among other things he distinctly 
heard this, " The saints shall advance from one virtue to 
another .'"' And again, " The God of gods shall be seen in 
Sion." Being restored to his body at that time, and again 
taken from it three days after, he not only saw the greater 
joys of the blessed, but also extraordinary combats of evil 
spirits, who by frequent accusations wickedly endeavoured 
to obstruct his journey to heaven ; but the angels protect- 
ing him, all their endeavours were in vain. Concerning 
which particulars, if any one desires to be more fully in- 
formed, that is, with what subtle fraud the devils repre- 
sented both his actions and superfluous words, and even his 
thoughts, as if they had been written down in a book ; and 
what pleasing or disagreeable things he was informed of by 
the angels and saints, or just men who appeared to him 
among the angels, let him read the little book of his life 
which I have mentioned, and I believe he will thereby reap 
much spiritual profit. But there is one thing among the 
rest, which we have thought may be beneficial to many if 
inserted in this history. When he had been lifted up on 
high, he was ordered by the angels that conducted him to 
look back upon the world. Upon which, casting his eyes 
downward, he saw, as it were, a dark and obscure valley 
underneath him. He also saw four fires in the air, not far 
distant from each other. Then asking the angels, what 
fires those were ? he was told, they were the fires which 
would kindle and consume the world. One of them was 
of falsehood, when we do not fulfil that which we pro- 
mised in baptism, to renounce the devil and all his works. 
The next of covetousness, when we prefer the riches of the 
world to the love of heavenly things. The third of discord, 
when we make no difficulty to offend the minds of our 
neighbours even in needless things. The fourth of iniquity, 
when we look upon it as no crime to rob and to defraud the 
weak. These fires increasing by degrees, extended so as 
to meet one another, and being joined, became an immense 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 161 

flame. When it drew near, fearing for himself, he said to 
the angel, " Lord, behold the fire draws near me." The 
angel answered, '' That which you did not kindle shall not 
burn you; for though this appears to be a terrible and 
great fire, yet it tries every man according to the merits of 
his worlis ; for every man's concupiscence shall burn in the 
fire ; for as every one burns in the body through unlawful 
pleasure, so when discharged of the body, he shall burn in 
the punishment which he has deserved." Then he saw one 
of the three angels, who had been his conductors through- 
out both visions, go before and divide the flame of fire, 
whilst the other two, flying about on both sides, defended 
him from the danger of that fire. He also saw devils flying 
through the fire, raising conflagrations of wars against the 
just. Then followed accusations of the wicked spirits 
against him, the defence of the good angels in his favour, 
and a more extended view of the heavenly troops ; as also 
of men of his own Scottish nation, whom he had long since 
been informed to have been deservedly advanced to the 
degree of priesthood, from whom he heard many things 
that might be very salutary to himself, or to all others that 
would listen to them. When they had ended their dis- 
course, and returned to heaven with the angelic spirits, the 
three angels remained with the blessed Furseus, of whom 
we have spoken before, and who were to bring him back to 
his body. And when they approached the aforesaid im- 
mense fire, the angel divided the flame, as he had done 
before ; but when the man of God came to the passage so 
opened amidst the flames, the unclean spirits laying hold 
of one of those whom they tormented in the fire, threw him 
at him, and touching his shoulder and jaw, burned them. 
He knew the man, and called to mind that he had received 
his garment when he died ; and the angel immediately laying 
hold, threw him back into the fire, and the malignant enemy 
said, " Do not reject him whom you before received ; for 



162 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

as you accepted the goods of him who was a sinner, so you 
must partake of his punishment." The angel replying, said, 
" He did not receive the same through avarice, but in order 
to save his soul." The fire ceased, and the angel, turning to 
him, added, " That which you kindled burned in you ; for 
had you not received the money of this person that died in 
his sins, his punishment would not burn in you." And pro- 
ceeding in his discourse, he gave him wholesome advice for 
what ought to be done towards the salvation of such as re- 
pented. Being afterwards restored to his body, through- 
out the whole course of his life he bore the mark of the 
fire which he had felt in his soul, visible to all men on his 
shoulder and jaw ; and the flesh publicly showed, in a won- 
derful manner, what the soul had suffered in private. He 
always took care, as he had done before, to persuade all 
men to the practice of virtue, as well by his example, as by 
preaching. But as for the matter of his visions, he would 
only relate them to those who, from holy zeal and desire of 
reformation, wished to learn the same. An ancient brother 
of our monastery is still living, who is wont to declare that 
a very sincere and religious man told him, that he had seen 
Furseus himself in the province of the East Angles, and 
heard those visions from his mouth. Adding, that though 
it was in most sharp winter weather, and a hard frost, and 
he was sitting in a thin garment when he related it, yet he 
sweated as if it had been in the greatest heat of summer, 
either through excessive fear, or spiritual consolation. 

To return to what we were saying before, when after 
preaching the word of God many years in Scotland, he could 
no longer bear the crowds that resorted to him, leaving all 
that he seemed to possess, he departed from his native 
island, and came with a few brothers through the Britons 
into the province of the English, and preaching the word 
of God there, as has been said, built a noble monastery. 
These things being rightly performed, he became desirous 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 163 

to rid himself of all business of this world, and even of the 
monastery itself, and forthwith left the same, and the care 
of souls, to his brother Fullan, and the priests Gobban and 
Dicull, and being himself free from all that was worldly, 
resolved to end his life as a hermit. He had another 
brother called Ultan, who, after a long monastical probation, 
had also adopted the life of an anchorite. Repairing all 
alone to him, he lived a whole year with him in continence 
and prayer, and laboured daily with his hands. Afterwards 
seeing the province in confusion, by the irruptions of the 
Pagans, and presaging that the monasteries would be also 
in danger, he left all things in order, and sailed over into 
France, and being there honourably entertained by Lotha- 
rius, King of the Franks, or by the patrician Erconvald, 
he built a monastery in the place called Latiniacum ; and 
falling sick not long after, departed this life. The same 
Erconvald took his body, and deposited it in the porch of a 
church he was building in his town of Perron, or Person, 
till the church itself should be dedicated. This happened 
twenty-seven days after, and the body being taken from the 
porch to be reburied near the altar, was found as entire as 
if he had just then died. And again, four years after, a 
more decent tabernacle or chapel being built for the same 
body to the eastward of the altar, it was still found free 
from corruption, and translated thither with due honour ; 
where it is well known that his merits, through the Divine 
operation, have been declared by many miracles. These 
things, and the incorruption of his body, we have taken 
notice of, that the sublimeness of this man may be the 
better known to the readers. All which, whosoever will 
read it, will find more fully described, as also about his fel- 
low-labourers, in the book of his life before-mentioned. 



M 2 



164 THE ECCLESIASTICAI. HISTORY 



CHAPTER XX. 

HONORIUS DYING, DEUSDEDIT IS CHOSEN ARCHBISHOP OF CANTER- 
BURY. OF THOSE WHO WERE AT THAT TIME BISHOPS OF THE 
EAST ANGLES, AND OF THE CHURCH OF ROCHESTER. 

In the meantime, Felix, bishop of the East Angles, 
dying, when he had held that see seventeen years, Hono- 
rius ordained Thomas his deacon, of the province of the 
Gyrvii, in his place ; and he departing this life when he 
had been bishop five years, Berchtgislus, surnamed Boni- 
face, of the province of Kent, was appointed in his stead. 
Honorius himself also having run his course, departed this 
life in the year of our Lord 653, the day before the kalends 
of October ; and when the see had been vacant a year and 
six months, Deusdedit, of the nation of the South Saxons, 
was chosen the sixth Archbishop of Canterbury. To ordain 
whom, Ithamar, bishop of Rochester, came thither. His 
ordination was on the 7th day of the kalends of April, and 
he ruled nine years, four months, and two days ; when he 
also died. Ithamar consecrated in his place Damian, who 
was of the race of the South Saxons. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

HOW THE PROVINCE OF THE MIDLAND ANGLES BECAME CHRISTIAN 
UNDER KING PEADA. 

At this time, the Midland Angles, under their Prince 
Peada, the son of King Penda, received the faith and 
sacraments of the truth. Being an excellent youth, and 
most worthy of the title and person of a king, he was by 
his father elevated to the throne of that nation, and came 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 165 

to Oswy, king of the Northumbrians, requesting to have 
his daughter Alhfleda given him to wife ; but could not 
obtain his desires unless he would embrace the faith of 
Christ, and be baptized, with the nation which he governed. 
When he heard the preaching of truth, the promise of the 
heavenly kingdom, and the hope of resurrection and future 
immortality, he declared that he would willingly become a 
Christian, even though he should be refused the virgin; 
being chiefly prevailed on to receive the faith by King 
Oswy's son Alhfrid, who was his relation and friend, and 
had married his sister Cyneburga, the daughter of King 
Penda. Accordingly he was baptized by Bishop Finan, 
with all his earls and soldiers, and their servants that came 
along with him, at a noted village belonging to the king, 
called At the Wall. And having received four priests, 
who for their erudition and good life were deemed proper 
to instruct and baptize his nation, he returned home with 
much joy. These priests were Cedda and Adda, and Betti 
and Diuma ; the last of which was by nation a Scot, the 
others English. Adda was brother to Utta, whom we have 
mentioned before, a renowned priest, and abbot of the 
monastery of Goat's Head. The aforesaid priests arriving 
in the province with the prince, preached the word, and 
were willingly listened to ; and many, as well of the nobility 
as the common sort, renouncing the abominations of idola- 
try, were baptized daily. Nor did King Penda obstruct 
the preaching of the word among his people, the Mercians, 
if any were willing to hear it ; but on the contrary he hated 
and despised those whom he perceived not to perform the 
works of faith, when they had received the faith of Christ, 
saying, "They were contemptible and wretched who did 
not obey their God, in whom they believed." This was 
begun two years before the death of King Penda. But 
when he was slain, Oswy, the most Christian king, succeed- 
ing him in the throne, Diuma, one of the aforesaid four 
priests, was made bishop of the Midland Angles, as also of 



166 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

the Mercians, being ordained by Bishop Finan; for the 
scarcity of priests was the occasion that one prelate was 
set over two nations. Having in a short time gained many 
people to our Lord, he died among the Midland Angles, in 
the country called Feppingum ; and Ceolla, of the Scottish 
nation, succeeded him in the bishopric. This prelate, not 
long after, left his bishopric, and returned to the island of 
Hii, which, among the Scots, was the chief and head of 
many monasteries. His successor in the bishopric was 
Trumhere, a religious man, and educated in the monastic 
life of the Enghsh nation, but ordained bishop by the Scots, 
which happened in the days of King Wulfhere, of whom 
we shall speak hereafter. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

HOAV THE EAST SAXONS AGAIN RECEIVED THE FAITH, WHICH THEY 
HAD BEFORE CAST OFF UNDER KING SIGBERCHT, THROUGH THE 
PREACHING OF CEDDA . 

At that time also, the East Saxons, at the instance of 
King Os^vy, again received the faith, which they had for- 
merly cast oflP when they expelled Mellitus their bishop. 
For Sigbercht, who reigned next to Sigbercht surnamed 
The Little, was then king of that nation, and a friend to 
King Oswy, who, when he often came to him into the pro- 
vince of the Northumbrians, used to endeavour to persuade 
him that those could not be gods that had been made by 
the hands of men ; that a stock or a stone could not be 
proper matter to form a god, the remains whereof were 
either burned in the fire, or framed into any vessels for the 
use of men, or else were cast out as refuse, trampled on 
and bruised to dust. That God is rather to be understood 
as of incomprehensible majesty and invisible to human eyes, 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 167 

almighty, eternal, the creator of heaven and earth, and of 
mankind ; who governs and will judge the world in righte- 
ousness; whose everlasting seat is in heaven, and not in 
vile and fading matter ; and that it ought in reason to be 
concluded, that all those who have learned and obeyed the 
will of him by whom they were created, will receive from 
him eternal rewards. King Oswy having often, in a friendly 
and brotherly manner, said this and much more to the like 
effect, at length, with the consent of his friends, he believed, 
and after consulting with those about him, and exhorting 
them, they all agreed and gave their approbation, and were 
baptized with him by Bishop Finan, in the king's village 
above spoken of, which is called At the Wall, because it is 
close by the wall with which the Romans formerly divided 
the island of Britain, at the distance of twelve miles from 
the eastern sea. King Sigbercht being now become a 
citizen of the eternal kingdom, returned to the seat of his 
temporal kingdom, requesting of Oswy that he would give 
him some teachers, who might convert his nation to the 
faith of Christ, and baptize them. Oswy accordingly send- 
ing into the province of the Midland Angles, invited to him 
the man of God, Cedd, and giving him another priest for 
his companion, sent them to preach to the East Saxons. 
When these two, travelling to all parts of that country, 
had gathered a numerous church to our Lord, it happened 
that Cedd returned home, and came to the church of Lin- 
disfarn to confer with Bishop Finan; who, finding how 
successful he had been in the work of the gospel, made him 
bishop of the church of the East Saxons, calling to him two 
other bishops to assist at the ordination. Cedd having 
received the episcopal dignity, returned to his province, and 
pursuing the work he had begun with more ample authority, 
built churches in several places, ordaining priests and dea- 
cons to assist him in the work of the faith, and the ministry 
of baptizing, especially in the city which, in the language 
of the Saxons, is called Ythancestir, as also in that which is 



168 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

named Tillaburg ; the first of which places is on the bank 
of the river Pante, the other on the bank of the Thames, 
where, gathering a flock of servants of Christ, he taught 
them to observe the disciphne of regular life, as far as those 
rude people were then capable. Whilst the teaching of 
life everlasting was thus, for a considerable time, making 
progress, to the joy of the king and of all the people, it 
happened that the king, at the instigation of the enemy of 
all good men, was murdered by his own kindred. They 
were two brothers who did this wicked deed ; and being 
asked what had moved them to it, had nothing else to 
answer, but that they had been incensed against the king, 
and hated him, because he was too apt to spare his enemies, 
and easily to forgive the wrongs they had done him, upon 
their entreaty. Such was the crime for which the king 
was killed, because he observed the precepts of the gospel 
with a devout heart ; in which innocent death, however, 
his real offence was also punished, according to the predic- 
tion of the man of God. For one of those earls that mur- 
dered him was unlawfully married, which the bishop not 
being able to prevent or correct, he excommunicated him, 
and commanded all that would give ear to him not to enter 
within his house, nor to eat of his meat. The king made 
slight of this inhibition, and being invited by the earl, went 
to an entertainment at his house, and when he was going 
thence, the bishop met him. The king beholding him, im- 
mediately dismounted from his horse, trembling, and fell 
down at his feet, begging pardon for his offence, for the 
bishop, who was likewise on horseback, had also alighted. 
Being much incensed, he touched the king lying in that 
humble posture, with the rod he held in his hand, and 
using his pontifical authority, spoke thus : " I say to you, 
forasmuch as you would not refrain from the house of 
that wicked and condemned person, you shall die in that 
very house." Yet it is to be believed, that such a death 
of a religious man not only blotted out his offence, but also 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 169 

added to liis merit ; because it happened on account of his 
pious observance of the commands of Christ. Sigbercht 
was succeeded in the kingdom by Suidhelm, the son of 
Sexbald, who was baptized by the same Cedd, in the pro- 
vince of the East Angles, at the king's country seat called 
Rendlesham, that is, Rendili Mansion ; and Ethilwald, 
king of the same East Angles, brother to Anna, king of 
the same people, was his godfather. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

BISHOP CEDD, HAVING A PLACE GIVEN HIM BY KING ETHILWALD, 
CONSECRATES THE SAME TO OUR LORD WITH PRAYER AND FAST- 
ING. OF HIS DEATH. 

The same man of God, whilst he was bishop among the 
East Saxons, was also wont several times to visit his own 
country, Northumberland, to make exhortations. Ethil- 
wald, the son of King Oswald, who reigned among the 
Deiri, finding him a holy, wise, and good man, desired 
him to accept some land to build a monastery, to which the 
king himself might frequently resort, to offer his prayers 
and hear the word, and be buried in it when he died ; for 
he believed that he should receive much benefit by the 
prayers of those who were to serve God in that place. The 
king had before with him a brother of the same bishop, 
called Celin, a man no less devoted to God, who, being a 
priest, was wont to administer to him the word and the 
sacraments of the faith ; by whose means he chiefly came 
to know and love the bishop. That prelate, therefore, com- 
plying with the king's desires, chose himself a place to build 
a monastery among craggy and distant mountains, which 
looked more like lurking-places for robbers and retreats for 
wild beasts, than habitations for men ; to the end that, 



170 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

according to the prophecy of Isaiah, *' In the habitation of 
dragons, where each lay, might be grass with reeds and 
rushes ;'' that is, that the fruits of good works should 
spring up, where before beasts were wont to dwell, or men 
to hve after the manner of beasts. The man of God, desir- 
ing first to cleanse the place for the monastery from former 
crimes, by prayer and fasting, that it might become accept- 
able to our Lord, and so to lay the foundations, requested 
of the king that he would give him leave to reside there all 
the approaching time of Lent, to pray. All which days, 
except Sundays, he fasted till the evening, according to 
custom, and then took no other sustenance than a little 
bread, one hen's egg, and a little milk mixed with water. 
This, he said, was the custom of those of whom he had 
learned the rule of regular discipline ; first, to consecrate 
to our Lord, by prayer and fasting, the places which they 
had newly received for building a monastery or a church. 
When there were ten days of Lent still remaining, there 
came a messenger to call him to the king ; and he, that 
the religious work might not be intermitted, on account of 
the king's affairs, entreated his priest, Cynebil, who was 
also his own brother, to complete that which had been so 
piously begun. Cynebil readily complied, and when the 
time of fasting and prayer was over, he there built the 
monastery, which is now called Lestinghae, and established 
therein the religious customs of Lindisfarn, where they had 
been educated. Cedd for many years having charge of the 
bishopric in the aforesaid province, and of this monastery, 
over which he had placed superiors, it happened that he 
came thither at a time when there was a mortality, and 
fell sick and died. He was first buried in the open air, but 
in process of time a church was built of stone in the mo- 
nastery, in the honour of the mother of God, and his body 
interred in the same, on the right hand of the altar. The 
bishop left the monastery to be governed after him by his 
brother Ceadda, who was afterwards made bishop, as shall 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 171 

be said in its place. For the four brothers we have men- 
tioned, Cedd and Cinebil, Celin and Ceadda, which is a rare 
thing to be met with, were all celebrated priests of our 
Lord, and two of them also came to be bishops. When 
the brethren who were in his monastery, in the province of 
the East Saxons, heard that the bishop was dead in the 
province of the Northumbrians, about thirty men of that 
monastery came thither, being desirous either to live near 
the body of their father, if it should please God, or to die 
there and be buried. Being lovingly received by their 
brethren and fellow-soldiers in Christ, all of them died 
there by the aforesaid pestilence, except one little boy, who 
was delivered from death by his father's prayers. For 
when he had lived there a long time after, and applied him- 
self to the reading of sacred writ, he was informed that he 
had not been regenerated by the water of baptism, and 
being then washed in the laver of salvation, he was after- 
wards promoted to the order of priesthood, and proved very 
useful to many in the church. I do not doubt that he was 
delivered at the point of death, as I have said, by the inter- 
cession of his father, whilst he was embracing his beloved 
corpse, that so he might himself avoid eternal death, and 
by teaching, exhibit the ministry of life and salvation to 
others of the brethren. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

KING PENDA BEING SLAIN, THE MERCIANS RECEIVED THE FAITH 
OF CHRIST, AND OSWY GAVE POSSESSIONS AND TERRITORIES TO 
GOD, FOR BUILDING MONASTERIES, IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT FOR 
THE VICTORY OBTAINED. 

At this time, King Oswy was exposed to the cruel and 
intolerable irruptions of Penda, King of the Mercians, 



172 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

whom we have so often mentioned, and who had slain his 
brother ; at length, necessity compelling him, he promised 
to give him greater gifts than can be imagined, to pur- 
chase peace ; provided that the king would return home, 
and cease to destroy the provinces of his kingdom. That 
perfidious king refusing to grant his request, and having 
resolved to extirpate all his nation, from the highest to the 
lowest, he had recourse to the protection of the Divine 
goodness for deliverance from his barbarous and impious 
foe, and binding himself by vow, said, " If the Pagan will 
not accept of our gifts, let us offer them to him that will, 
the Lord our God." He then vowed, that if he should come 
off victorious, he would dedicate his daughter to our Lord 
in holy virginity, and give twelve farms to build monasteries. 
After this he gave battle with a very small army against 
superior forces : indeed, it is reported that the Pagans had 
three times the number of men ; for they had thirty legions, 
led on by most noted commanders. King Oswy and his 
son Alchfrid, met them with a very small army, as has 
been said, but confiding in the conduct of Christ ; his other 
son Ecgfrid was then kept an hostage at the court of 
Queen Cinvese, in the province of the Mercians. King 
Oswald's son Ethilwald, who ought to have assisted them, 
was on the enemy^s side, and led them on to fight against 
his country and uncle ; though, during the battle, he with- 
drew, and waited the event in a place of safety. The en- 
gagement beginning, the Pagans were defeated, and the 
thirty commanders, who had come to his assistance, were put 
to flight, and almost all of them slain ; among whom was 
Edilhere, brother and successor to Anna, King of the East 
Angles, who had been the occasion of the war, and who was 
now killed, with all his soldiers. The ba,ttle was fought 
near the river Vinved, which then, with the great rains, 
had not only filled its channel, but overflowed its banks, so 
that many more were dro^^^led in the flight than destroyed 
by the sword. Then King Oswy, pursuant to the vow he had 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 173 

made to our Lord, returned thanks to God for the victory, 
and gave his daughter Eanfled, who was scarce a year old, to 
be consecrated to him in perpetual virginity ; delivering also 
twelve small portions of land, wherein earthly warfare should 
cease, and in which there should be a perpetual residence 
and subsistence for monks to follow the warfare which is 
spiritual, and pray diligently for the peace of his nation. Of 
those possessions six were in the province of the Deiri, and 
the other six in that of the Bernicians. Each of the said 
possessions contained ten families, that is, a hundred and 
twenty in all. The aforesaid daughter of King Oswi, so de- 
dicated to God, was put into the monastery, called Heru- 
teu, or, the " the Island of the Stag,'' where, at that time, 
the Abbess Hilda presided, who, two years after, having 
acquired a possession of ten families, at the place called 
Streaneshalh, built a monastery there, in which the aforesaid 
king's daughter was first a learner, and afterwards a teacher 
of the monastic life ; till, being sixty years of age, the blessed 
virgin departed to the nuptials and embraces of her heavenly 
bridegroom. In that same monastery, she and her father, 
Oswy, and her mother's father, Edwin, and many other 
noble persons, are buried in the church of the hoJy apostle 
Peter. King Oswy concluded the aforesaid war in the coun- 
try of Loidis, in the thirteenth year of his reign, on the 13th 
day of the kalends of December, to the great benefit of 
both nations ; for he both delivered his own people from the 
hostile depredations of the Pagans, and, having cut off the 
wicked king's head, converted the Mercians and the adja- 
cent provinces to the grace of the Christian faith. Diuma 
was made the first bishop of the Mercians, as also of Lin- 
disfarn and the Midland Angles, as has been said above, 
and he died and was buried among the Midland Angles. 
The second was Cellah, who, quitting the episcopal office 
whilst still alive, returned into Scotland, to which nation 
he belonged as well as Bishop Diuma. The third was 
Trumhere, an Englishman, but taught and ordained by the 



174 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

Scots, being abbot in the monastery that is called Inge- 
thingum, and is the place where King Oswin was killed, as 
has been said above ; for Queen Eanfleda, his kinswoman, in 
satisfaction for his unjust death, begged of King Oswy that 
he would there give to the aforesaid servant of God a place 
to build a monastery, because he also was kinsman to the 
slaughtered king; in which monastery continual prayers 
should be offered up for the eternal health of the kings, 
both of him that had been slain, and of him that caused it 
to be done. The same King Oswy governed the Mercians, 
as also the people of the other southern provinces, three 
years after he had slain King Penda ; and he likewise sub- 
dued the greater part of the Picts to the dominion of the 
English ; at which time he gave to the above-mentioned 
Peada, son to King Penda, who was his kinsman, the king- 
dom of the Southern Mercians, consisting, as is reported, of 
5000 families, divided by the river Trent from the Northern 
Mercians, whose land contained 7000 families ; but that 
Peada was the next spring very wickedly killed, by the 
treachery, as is said, of his wife, during the very time of 
celebrating Easter. Three years after the killing of King 
Penda, Immin, and Eaba, and Eadbert, generals of the 
Mercians, rebelled against King Oswy, setting up for their 
king, Wulfhere, son to the said Penda, a youth, whom 
they had kept concealed ; and expelling the officers of the 
foreign king, they at once recovered their liberty and their 
lands ; and being thus free, together with their king, they 
rejoiced to serve Christ the true King, that they might 
obtain the everlasting kingdom which is in heaven. This 
king governed the Mercians seventeen years, and had for 
his first bishop Trumhere, above spoken of; the second 
Jaruman ; the third Ceadda ; the fourth Winifrid. All 
these succeeding each other regularly under King Wulf- 
here, discharged the episcopal duties to the Mercian 
nation. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 175 



CHAPTER XXV. 

HOW THE CONTROVERSY AROSE ABOUT THE DUE TIME OF KEEPING 
EASTER, WITH THOSE THAT CAME OUT OF SCOTLAND. 

In the meantime, Bishop Aidan being dead, Finan, who was 
ordained and sent by the Scots, succeeded him in the bishop- 
ric, and built a church in the Isle of Lindisfarn, the episcopal 
see; nevertheless, after the manner of the Scots, he made it, 
not of stone, but of hewn oak, and covered it with reeds; 
and the same was afterwards dedicated in honour of St. 
Peter the apostle, by the reverend Archbishop Theodorus. 
Eadberht, also bishop of that place, taking off the thatch, 
covered it, both the roof and the walls, with plates of lead. 
At this time, a great and frequent controversy happened 
about the observance of Easter ; those that came from Kent 
or France affirming, that the Scots kept Easter-Sunday 
contrary to the custom of the universal Church. Among 
them was a most zealous defender of the true Easter, whose 
name was Roman, a Scot by nation, but instructed in eccle- 
siastical truth, either in France or Italy, who, disputing 
with Finan, convinced many, or at least induced them to 
make a more strict inquiry after the truth ; yet he could 
not prevail upon Finan, but on the contrary made him the 
more inveterate by reproof, and a professed opposer of the 
truth, being of a hot and violent temper. James, formerly 
the deacon of the venerable Archbishop Paulinus^ as has 
been said above, kept the true and Catholic Easter, with all 
those that he could persuade to adopt the right way. Queen 
Eanfleda and her followers also observed the same as she 
had seen practised in Kent, having with her a Kentish 
priest that-followed the Catholic mode, whose name was Ro- 
manus. Thus it is said to have happened in those times 
that Easter was twice kept in one year ; and that when the 
king, having ended the time of fasting, kept his Easter, the 



176 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

queen and her followers were still fasting, and celebrating 
Palm Sunday. This difference about the observance of 
Easter, whilst Aidan lived, was patiently tolerated by all 
men, as being sensible, that though he could not keep 
Easter contrary to the custom of those who had sent him, 
yet he industriously laboured to practise all works of faith, 
piety, and love, according to the custom of all holy men ; 
for which reason he was deservedly beloved by all, even 
by those who differed in opinion concerning Easter, and was 
held in veneration, not only by indifferent persons, but even 
by the bishops, Honorius of Canterbury, and Felix of the 
East Angles. But after the death of Finan, who succeeded 
him, when Colman, who was also sent out of Scotland, came 
to be bishop, a greater controversy arose about the obser- 
vance of Easter, as also about the rules of ecclesiastical 
life. Whereupon this dispute began to influence the 
thoughts and hearts of many, who feared, lest having re- 
ceived the name of Christians, they might happen to run, 
or to have run, in vain. This reached the ears of King 
Oswy and his son Alchfrid ; for Oswy having been instructed 
and baptized by the Scots, and being very perfectly skilled 
in their language, thought nothing better than what they 
taught. But Alchfrid having been instructed in Chris- 
tianity by Wilfrid, a most learned man, who had first gone 
to Rome to learn the ecclesiastical doctrine, and spent 
much time at Lyons with Dalfin, Archbishop of France, from 
whom also he had received the ecclesiastical tonsure, rightly 
thought this man's doctrine ought to be preferred before all 
the traditions of the Scots. For this reason he had also 
given him a monastery of forty families, at a place called 
Hrypum; which place, not long before, he had given to 
those that followed the system of the Scots for a monas- 
tery ; but forasmuch as they afterwards, being left to their 
choice, prepared to quit the place rather than alter their 
opinion, he gave the place to him, whose life and doc- 
trine were worthy of it. Agilbert, bishop of the West 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 177 

Saxons, above-mentioned, a friend to King Alchfrid and 
to Abbot Wilfrid, was at that time come into the pro- 
vince of the Northumbrians, and made some stay among 
them ; and at the request of Alchfrid, he made Wilfrid a 
priest in his monastery, and had in his company a priest, 
whose name was Agatho. The controversy being there 
started, concerning Easter, or the tonsure, or other eccle- 
siastical affairs, it was agreed, that a synod should be held 
in the monastery of Streaneshach, which signifies the Bay 
of the Lighthouse, where the Abbess Hilda, a woman de- 
voted to God, then presided ; and that there this contro- 
versy should be decided. The kings, both father and son, 
came thither, the bishops Colman, with his Scottish clerks, 
and Agilbert, with the priests Agatho and Wilfrid, and 
James and Romanus, were on their side ; the Abbess Hilda 
and her followers were for the Scots, as was also the vene- 
rable Bishop Cedd, long before ordained by the Scots, as 
has been said above, and he was in that council a most 
careful interpreter for both parties. King Oswy first 
discoursed, that it behoved those who served one God to 
observe the same rule of life ; and as they all expected the 
same kingdom in heaven, so they ought not to differ in the 
celebration of the Divine mysteries ; but rather to inquire 
which was the truest tradition, that the same might be 
followed by all ; he then commanded his bishop, Colman, 
first to delare what the custom was, which he observed, and 
whence it derived its origin. Then Colman said, " The 
Easter which I keep, I received from my elders, who sent 
me bishop hither ; all our forefathers, men beloved of God, 
are known to have kept it after the same manner ; and that 
the same may not seem to any contemptible or worthy to 
be rejected, it is the same which St. John the Evangelist, 
the disciple beloved of our Lord, with all the churches over 
which he presided, is recorded to have observed." Having 
said thus much, and more to the like effect, the king com- 
manded Agilbert to show whence his custom of keeping 



178 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

Easter was derived, or on what authority it was grounded. 
Agilbert answered, " I desire that my disciple, the priest 
Wilfrid, may speak in my stead ; because we both concur 
with the other followers of the ecclesiastical tradition, that 
are here present, and he can better explain our opinion in 
the English language, than I can by an interpreter." Then 
Wilfrid, being ordered by the king to speak, delivered him- 
self thus : — " The Easter which we observe, we saw cele- 
brated by all at Rome, where the blessed apostles, Peter 
and Paul, lived, taught, suffered, and w^ere buried ; we saw 
the same done in Italy and in France, when we travelled 
through those countries for pilgrimage and prayer. We 
found the same practised in Africa, Asia, Eg^^t, Greece, 
and all the world, wherever the church of Christ is spread 
abroad, through several nations and tongues, at one and 
the same time ; except only these and their accomplices in 
obstinacy, I mean the Picts and the Britons, who foolishly 
in these two remote islands of the world, and only in part 
even of them, oppose all the rest of the universe." When he 
had so said, Colman answered, " It is strange that you will 
call our labours foolish, wherein w^e follow the example of 
so great an apostle, who was thought worthy to lay his head 
on our Lord's bosom, when all the world know^s him to have 
lived most wisely." Wilfrid replied, " Far be it from us 
to charge John with folly, for he literally observed the pre- 
cepts of the Jewish law, whilst the church still judaized in 
many points, and the apostles were not able at once to cast 
off all the observances of the law which had been instituted 
by God. In which way it is necessary that all who come 
to the faith should forsake the idols which were invented 
by devils, that they might not give scandal to the Jews 
that were among the Gentiles. For this reason it was that 
Paul circumcised Timothy, that he offered sacrifice in the 
temple, that he shaved his head with Aquila and Priscilla 
at Corinth ; for no other advantage than to avoid giving 
scandal to the Jews. Hence it was that James said, to 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 179 

the same Paul, ' You see, brother, how many thousands of 
the Jews have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. 
And yet, at this time, the gospel spreading throughout the 
world, it is needless, nay it is not lawful for the faithful 
either to be circumcised, or to offer up to God sacrifices of 
flesh.' So John, pursuant to the custom of the law, began 
the celebration of the feast of Easter, on the fourteenth day 
of the first month, in the evening, not regarding whether 
the same happened on a Saturday, or any other day. But 
when Peter preached at Rome, being mindful that our 
Lord arose from the dead, and gave the world the hopes of 
resurrection, on the first day after the Sabbath, he under- 
stood that Easter ought to be observed, so as always to 
stay till the rising of the moon on the fourteenth day of the 
first moon, in the evening, according to the custom and 
precepts of the law, even as John did. And when that 
came, if the Lord's day, then called the first day after the 
Sabbath, was the next day, he began that very evening to 
keep Easter, as we all do at this day. But if the Lord's day 
did not fall the next morning after the fourteenth moon, but 
on the sixteenth, or the seventeenth, or any other moon till 
the twenty-first, he waited for that, and on the Saturday 
before, in the evening, began to observe the holy solemnity 
of Easter. Thus it came to pass, that Easter Sunday was 
only kept from the fifteenth moon to the twenty-first. Nor 
does this evangelical and apostolic tradition abolish the law, 
but rather fulfil it, the command being to keep the pass- 
over from the fourteenth moon of the first month in the 
evening to the twenty-first moon of the same month in the 
evening ; which observance all the successors of St. John 
in Asia, since his death, and all the Church throughout the 
world, have since followed ; and that this is the true Easter, 
and the only one to be kept by the faithful, was not newly 
decreed by the Council of Nice, but only confirmed afresh ; 
as the Church History informs us. Thus it appears, that 
you, Colman, neither follow the example of John, as you 

N 2 



180 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

imagine, nor that of Peter, whose traditions you knowingly 
contradict ; and that you neither agi^ee with the law nor 
the gospel in the keeping of your Easter. For John, keep- 
ing the paschal time according to the degree of the Mosaic 
law, had no regard to the first day after the Sabbath, 
which you do not practise, who celebrate Easter only on 
the first day after the Sabbath. Peter kept Easter Sunday 
between the fifteenth and the twenty-first moon, which you 
do not, but keep Easter Sunday from the fourteenth to the 
twentieth moon ; so that you often begin Easter on the 
thirteenth moon in the evening, whereof neither the law 
made any mention, nor did our Lord, the author and giver 
of the gospel, on that day, but on the fourteenth, either eat 
the old passover in the evening, or deliver the sacraments 
of the New Testament to be celebrated by the Church, in 
memory of his passion. Besides, in your celebration of 
Easter, you utterly exclude the twenty-first moon, which 
the law ordered to be principally observed. Thus, as I said 
before, you agree neither with John nor Peter, nor with the 
law, nor the gospel in the celebration of the greatest fes- 
tival." To this Colman rejoined, " Did Anatolius, a holy 
man, and much commended in church history, act contrary 
to the law and the gospel, when he wrote, that Easter was 
to be celebrated from the fourteenth to the twentieth ? Is 
it to be believed that our most reverend Father Columb and 
his successors, men beloved by God, who kept Easter after 
the same manner, thought or acted contrary to the Divine 
writings ? Whereas there were many among them, whose 
sanctity is testified by heavenly signs and the working of 
miracles, w^hose life, customs, and discipline I never cease 
to follow, not questioning their being saints in heaven.'* 
" It is evident," said Wilfrid, " that Anatolius was a most 
holy, learned, and commendable man ; but what have you 
to do with him, since you do not observe his decrees ? For 
he, following the rule of truth in his Easter, appointed a 
revolution of nineteen years, which either you are ignorant 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 181 

of, or if you know it to be kept by the whole Church of 
Christ, yet you despise it. He so computed the fourteenth 
moon in the Easter of our Lord, that according to the cus- 
tom of the Egyptians, he acknowledged it to be the fifteenth 
moon in the evening; so in like manner he assigned the 
twentieth to Easter Sunday, as believing that to be the 
twenty-first moon, when the sun had set, which rule and 
distinction of his it appears you are ignorant of, in that you 
sometimes keep Easter before the full of the moon, that is, 
on the thirteenth day. Concerning your Father Columb 
and his followers, whose sanctity you say you imitate, and 
whose rules and precepts you observe, which have been 
confirmed by signs from heaven, I can answer, that when 
many, on the day of judgment, shall say to our Lord, ' That 
in his name they prophesied, and cast out devils, and 
wrought many wonders,' our Lord will reply, ' That he 
never knew them.' But far be it from me, that I say so of 
your fathers, because it is much more just to believe what 
is good, than what is evil, of persons whom one does not 
know. Wherefore I do not deny those to have been God's 
servants, and beloved by him, who with rustic simplicity, 
but pious intentions, have themselves loved him. Nor do 
I think that such keeping of Easter was very prejudicial to 
them, as long as none came to show them a more perfect 
rule ; and yet I do believe that they, if any Catholic adviser 
had come among them, would have as readily followed his 
admonitions, as they are known to have kept those com- 
mandments of God, which they had learned and knew. 
But as for you and your companions, you certainly sin, if, 
having heard the decrees of the apostolic see, and of the 
universal Church, and that the same is confirmed by holy 
writ, you refuse to follow them, for though your fathers 
were holy, do you think that their small number, in a 
corner of the remotest island, is to be preferred before the 
universal Church of Christ, throughout the world ? And if 
that Columb of yours, (and, I may say, ours also^ if he 



182 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

were Christ's servant,) was holy and powerful in miracles, 
yet could he be preferred before the most blessed prince of 
the apostles, to whom our Lord said, ' Thou art Peter, and 
upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it, and to thee I will give the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven?'" When Wilfrid had 
spoken thus, the king said, " Is it true, Colman, that these 
words were spoken to Peter by our Lord V He answered, 
" It is true, king !" Then says he, " Can you show any 
such power given to your Columbf Colman answered, 
" None.'' Then added the king, " Do you both agree, 
that these words were principally directed to Peter, and 
that the keys of heaven were given to him by our Lord T' 
They both answered, " We do." Then the king concluded, 
" And I also say unto you, that he is the doorkeeper, whom 
I will not contradict, but will, as far as I know and am able, 
in all things obey his decrees, lest, when I come to the 
gates of the kingdom of heaven, there should be none to 
open them, he being my adversary who is proved to have 
the keys." The king having said this, all present, both 
great and small, gave their assent, and renouncing the 
more imperfect institution, resolved to conform to that 
which they found to be better. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

COLMAN, BEING WORSTED, RETURNED HOME; TUDA SUCCEEDED 
HIM IN THE BISHOPRIC ; THE STATE OF THE CHURCH UNDER 
THOSE TEACHERS. 

The disputation being ended, and the company broken 
up, Agilbert returned home. Colman, perceiving that his 
doctrine was rejected, and his sect despised, took with 
him such as would not comply with the Catholic Easter and 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 183 

the tonsure, (for there was much controversy about that 
also,) and went back into Scotland, to consult with his 
people what was to be done in this case. Cedd, forsaking 
the practices of the Scots, returned to his bishopric, having 
submitted to the Catholic observance of Easter. This dis- 
putation happened in the year of our Lord's incarnation 
664<, which was the twenty-second year of the reign of King 
Oswy, and the thirtieth of the episcopacy of the Scots 
among the English ; for Aidan was bishop seventeen years, 
Finan ten, and Colman three. Colman returning into his 
own country, Tuda, the servant of God, was made bishop 
of the Northumbrians in his place, having been instructed 
and ordained bishop among the Southern Scots, having 
also the ecclesiastical tonsure of his crown, according to the 
custom of that province, and observing the Catholic time of 
Easter. He was a good and religious man, but governed 
his church a very short time ; for he came out of Scotland 
whilst Colman was yet bishop, and, both by word and ex- 
ample, diligently taught all persons those things that apper- 
tain to the faith and truth. But Eata, who was abbot of 
the monastery of Mailros, a most reverend and meek man, 
was appointed abbot over the brethren that stayed in the 
church of Lindisfarn, when the Scots went away ; they say, 
Colman, being upon his departure, requested and obtained 
this of King Oswy, because Eata was one of Aidan's twelve 
boys of the English nation, whom he received when first 
made bishop there, to be instructed in Christ ; for the king 
much loved Bishop Colman, on account of his singular dis- 
cretion. This is the same Eata who, not long after, was 
made bishop of the same church of Lindisfarn. Colman 
carried home with him part of the bones of the most reve- 
rend Father Aidan, and left part of them in the church 
where he had presided, ordering them to be interred in the 
sacristy. The place which he governed shows how frugal 
he and his predecessors were, for there were very few 
houses besides the church found at their departure j indeed 



184 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

no more than were barely sufficient for their daily resi- 
dence ; they had also no money, but cattle ; for if they 
received any money from rich persons, they immediately 
gave it to the poor ; there being no need to gather money, 
or provide houses for the entertainment of the great men 
of the world ; for such never resorted to the church, except 
to pray and hear the word of God. The king himself, 
when opportunity offered, came only with five or six ser- 
vants, and having performed his devotions in the church, 
departed. But if they happened to take a repast there, 
they were satisfied with only the plain and daily food of the 
brethren, and required no more ; for the whole care of those 
teachers was to serve God, not the world — to feed the soul, 
and not the belly. For this reason the religious habit was 
at that time in great veneration ; so that wheresoever any 
clergyman or monk happened to come, he was joyfully 
received by all persons, as God's servant ; and if they 
chanced to meet him upon the way, they ran to him, and 
bowing, were glad to be signed with his hand, or blessed 
with his mouth. Great attention was also paid to their 
exhortations ; and on Sundays they flocked eagerly to the 
church, or the monasteries, not to feed their bodies, but to 
hear the word of God ; and if any priest happened to come 
into a village, the inhabitants flocked together to hear from 
him the word of life ; for the priests and clergymen went 
into the villages on no other account than to preach, bap- 
tize, visit the sick, and, in few words, to take care of souls ; 
and they were so free from worldly avarice, that none of 
them received lands and possessions for building monaste- 
ries, unless they were compelled to do so by the temporal 
authorities ; which custom was for some time after observed 
in all the churches of the Northumbrians. But enough 
has been now said of these things. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 185 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

EGBERCHT, A HOLY MAN OF THE ENGLISH NATION, LED A MONASTIC 
LIFE IN IRELAND. 

In the same year of our Lord's incarnation 664^, there 
happened an ecHpse of the sun, on the 8rd of May, about 
ten o'clock in the morning. In the same year, a sudden 
pestilence also depopulated the southern coasts of Britain, 
and afterwards extending into the province of the Northum- 
brians, raged the country far and near, and destroyed a 
great multitude of men. To which plague the aforesaid 
priest Tuda fell a victim, and was honourably buried in the 
monastery of Pegnaleth. This pestilence did no less harm 
in the island of Ireland. Many of the nobility, and of the 
lower ranks of the English nation, were there at that time, 
who, in the days of the Bishops Finan and Colman, for- 
saking their native island, retired thither, either for the 
sake of Divine studies, or of a more continent life ; and some 
of them presently devoted themselves to a monastical life, 
others chose rather to apply themselves to study, going 
about from one master's cell to another. The Scots wil- 
lingly received them all, and took care to supply them with 
food, as also to furnish them with books to read, and their 
teaching, gratis. Among these were Edilhun and Egbercht, 
two youths of great capacity, of the English nobility. The 
former of which was brother to Ethilwin, a man no less 
beloved by God, who also afterwards went over into Ireland 
to study, and having been well instructed, returned into his 
own country, and being made bishop in the province of 
Lindsey, long governed that church worthily and creditably. 
These two being in the monastery which in the language of 
the Scots is called Rathmelsigi, and having lost all their 
companions, who were either cut off by the mortality, or 
dispersed into other places, fell both desperately sick of the 



186 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

same distemper, and were grievously afflicted. Of these Eg- 
bercht, (as I was informed by a priest venerable for his age, 
and of great veracity, who declared he had heard those things 
from his own mouth,) concluding that he was at the point 
of death, went out of his chamber, where the sick lay, in 
the morning, and sitting alone in a convenient place, began 
seriously to reflect upon his past actions, and, being full of 
compunction at the remembrance of his sins, bedewed his 
face with tears, and prayed fervently to God that he might 
not die yet, before he could make amends for the offences 
which he had committed in his infancy and younger years, 
or might further exercise himself in good works. He also 
made a vow that he would, for the sake of God, live in a 
strange place, so as never to return into the island of Bri- 
tain, where he was born ; that, besides the canonical times 
of singing psalms, unless prevented by corporeal infirmity, 
he would say the whole psalter daily to the praise of God ; 
and that he would every week fast one whole day and a 
night. Returning home, after his tears, prayers and vows, 
he found his companion asleep, and going to bed himself, 
began to compose himself to rest. When he had lain quiet 
awhile, his comrade awaking, looked on him, and said, 
" Alas ! Brother Egbercht, what have you done ? I was 
in hopes that we should have entered together into life 
everlasting; but know that what you prayed for is granted." 
For he had learned in a vision what the other had requested, 
and that his prayer was granted. In short, Edilhun died 
the next night ; but Egbercht, shaking off his distemper, 
recovered and lived a long time after to grace the priestly 
office, which he had received, by his worthy behaviour ; and 
after much increase of virtue, according to his desire, he at 
length, in the year of our Lord's incarnation 729, being 
ninety years of age, departed to the heavenly kingdom. He 
led his life in great perfection of humility, meekness, conti- 
nence, simplicity and justice. Thus he was a great bene- 
factor, both to his own nation, and to those of the Scots 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 187 

and PIcts among whom he lived a stranger, by his example 
of life, his industry in teaching, his authority in reproving, 
and his piety in giving away much of what he received from 
the bounty of the rich. He also added this to his vow 
above-mentioned ; during Lent, he would eat but one meal 
a day, allowing himself nothing but bread and thin milk, 
and even that by measure. That milk, new the day before, 
he kept in a vessel, and the next day skimming off the 
cream, drank the rest, as has been said, with a little bread. 
Which sort of abstinence he likewise always observed forty 
days before the nativity of our Lord, and as many after the 
solemnity of Pentecost, that is, of the Quinquagesima. 



CHAPTER XXVIIL 



TUDA BEING DEAD, WILFRID WAS ORDAINED, IN FRANCE, AND 
CEADD, IN THE PROVINCE OF THE WEST SAXONS, TO BE BISHOPS 
OF THE NORTHUMBRIANS. 

In the meantime. King Alchfrid sent the priest, Wilfrid, 
to the King of France, to be consecrated bishop over him 
and his people. That prince sent him to be ordained to 
Agilbert, who, as was said above, having left Britain, was 
made bishop of the city of Paris ; and by him Wilfrid was 
honourably consecrated, several bishops meeting together 
for that purpose in a village belonging to the king, called 
Compiegne. He made some stay in the parts beyond the 
sea, after his consecration, and Oswy, following the exam- 
ple of the king his son, sent a holy man, of modest beha- 
viour, well read in the scripture, and diligently practising 
those things which he had learned therein, to be ordained 
bishop of the Church of York. This was a priest called 
Ceadd, brother to the reverend prelate Cedd, of whom men- 
tion has been often made, and abbot of the monastery of 



loo THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

Lestingaeu. With him the king also sent his priest Ead- 
hedun, who was afterwards, in the reign of Ecgfrid, made 
bishop of the Church of Hrypum. On arriving in Kent, they 
found that Archbishop Deusdedit was departed this hfe, and 
no other prelate as yet appointed in his place ; whereupon 
they proceeded to the province of the West Saxons, where 
Wine was bishop, and by him the person above-mentioned 
was consecrated bishop ; two bishops of the British nation, 
who kept Easter Sunday according to the canonical man- 
ner, from the fourteenth to the twentieth day of the moon, 
as has been said, being taken to assist at the ordination ; 
for at that time there was no other bishop in all Britain 
canonically ordained, besides that Wine. Ceadd being thus 
consecrated bishop, began immediately to devote himself to 
ecclesiastical truth and to chastity; to apply himself to 
humility, continence, and study; to travel about, not on 
horseback, but after the manner of the apostles, on foot, to 
preach the gospel in towns, the open country, cottages, vil- 
lages, and castles ; for he was one of the disciples of Aidan, 
and endeavoured to instruct his people, by the same actions 
and behaviour, according to his and his brother Cedd's 
example. Wilfrid also being made a bishop, coming into 
Britain, in like manner by his doctrine brought into the 
English Church many rules of Catholic observance. Whence 
it followed, that the Catholic institutions daily gained 
strength, and all the Scots that dwelt in England either 
conformed to these, or returned into their own country. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



HOW THE PRIEST W^IGHARD WAS SENT FROM BRITAIN TO ROME, TO 
BE CONSECRATED ARCHBISHOP, OF HIS DEATH THERE, AND OF THE 
LETTERS OF THE APOSTOLIC POPE GIVING AN ACCOUNT THEREOF. 

At this time the most noble King Oswy, of the province 
of the Northumbrians, and Egbercht of Kent, having con- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 189 

suited together about the state of the English Church, (for 
Oswy, though educated by the Scots, perfectly understood 
that the Roman was the Catholic and Apostolic Church.) 
with the consent of the holy Church of the English nation, 
accepted of a good man, and fit priest, to be made a bishop, 
called Wighard, one of Bishop Deusdedifs clergy, and sent 
him to Rome to be ordained bishop, to the end that he, 
having received the degree of an archbishop, might ordain 
Catholic prelates for the churches of the English nation 
throughout all Britain. But Wighard arriving at Rome, 
was cut off by death, before he could be consecrated bishop, 
and the following letter was sent back into Britain to King 
Oswy : — 

" To the most excellent Lord, our son, Oswy, king of 
the Saxons, Vitalian, bishop, servant of the servants of 
God. We have received your excellency's pleasing letters ; 
by reading whereof we understood your most pious devo- 
tion and fervent love to obtain everlasting life ; and that by 
the protecting hand of God, you have been converted to 
the true and apostolic faith, hoping that as you reign in 
your nation, so you will hereafter reign in Christ. Blessed 
be the nation, therefore, that has been found worthy to 
have such a wise king and worshipper of God ; forasmuch 
as he is not himself alone a worshipper of God, but also 
studies day and night the conversion of all his subjects to 
the Catholic and apostolic faith, to the redemption of his 
own soul. Who will not rejoice at hearing such pleasant 
things 1 Who will not be delighted at such good works ? 
Because your nation has believed in Christ the Almighty 
God, according to the words of the Divine prophets, as it is 
written in Isaiah, ' In that day there shall be a root of 
Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people, to him 
shall the Gentiles seek.^ And again, ' Listen, O isles, unto 
me, and hearken ye people from far.' And a little after. 



190 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

' It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to 
raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of 
Israel V ' I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, 
that thou mayst be my salvation to the ends of the earth. 
And again, ' Kings shall see and arise, Princes also shall 
worship.' And presently after, ' I have given thee for a 
covenant of the people, to establish the earth, and possess 
the desolate heritages. That thou mayst say to the pri- 
soners, go forth ; to them that are in darkness, show your- 
selves.' And again, ' I the Lord have called thee in righte- 
ousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and 
give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the 
Gentiles ; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoner 
from the prison, and them that sit in darkness from the 
prison-house.' Behold, most excellent son, how plain it is, 
not only of you, but also of all the nations of the prophets, 
that they shall believe in Christ, the Creator of all things. 
Wherefore it behoves your highness, as being a member of 
Christ, in all things continually to follow the pious rule of 
the prince of the apostles, in celebrating Easter, and in all 
things delivered by the blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, 
whose doctrine daily enlightens the hearts of believers, even 
as the two heavenly lights, the sun and moon, daily illumine 
all the earth." 

And after some lines, wherein he speaks of celebrating 
Easter uniformly throughout all the world, he adds — 

" We have not been able now to find, considering the 
length of the journey, a man, docile, and qualified in all 
respects to be a bishop, according to the tenor of your 
letters. But as soon as such a proper person shall be 
found, we will send him well instructed to your country, 
that he may, by word of mouth, and through the Divine 
oracles, with the assistance of God, root out all the enemy's 
tares throughout your island. We have received the pre- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 191 

sents sent by your highness to the blessed prince of the 
apostles, for an eternal memorial, and return you thanks, 
and always pray for your safety with the clergy of Christ. 
But he that brought these presents has been removed out 
of this world, and is buried at the church of the apostles, 
for whom we have been much concerned, because he died 
here. However, we have ordered the blessed gifts of the 
holy martyrs, that is, the relics of the blessed apostles, 
Peter and Paul, and of the holy martyrs, Laurentius, John, 
and Paul, and Gregory, and Pancratius, to be delivered to 
the bearers of these our letters, to be by them delivered to 
you. And to your consort also, our spiritual daughter, we 
have by the aforesaid bearers sent a cross, with a gold key 
to it, and some of the most holy chains of the apostles, 
Peter and Paul ; at whose pious endeavours all the Apos- 
tolic See rejoices with us, as much as her pious works shine 
and blossom before God. We therefore desire your highness 
will hasten, according to our wish, to dedicate all your island 
to Christ our God ; for you certainly have for your protec- 
tor, the Redeemer of Mankind, our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
will prosper you in all things, that you may bring together a 
new people of Christ ; establishing there the Catholic and 
apostolic faith. For it is written, ' Seek first the kingdom 
of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall 
be added to you.' Truly your highness seeks, and shall no 
doubt obtain, that all your islands shall be made subject 
to you, as is our wish and desire. Saluting your excellency 
with fatherly affection, we always pray to the Divine good- 
ness, that it will vouchsafe to assist you and yours in all 
good works, that you may reign with Christ in the world to 
come. May the heavenly grace preserve your excellency 
in safety !" 



192 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

CHAPTER XXX. 

THE EAST SAXONS, DURING A PESTILENCE, RETURNING TO IDOLATRY, 
ARE IMMEDIATELY BROUGHT BACK FROM THEIR ERROR BY THE 
BISHOP JARUMAN. 

At the same time, the Kings Sighere and Sebbi, though 
subject to Wulfhere, king of the Mercians, governed the 
province of the East Saxons after Suithelm, of whom we have 
spoken above. That province labouring under the aforesaid 
mortahty, Sighere, with that part of the people that was 
under his dominion, forsook the mysteries of the Christian 
faith, and turned apostate. For the king himself, and 
many of the commons and great men being fond of this 
life, and not seeking after another, or rather not believing 
that there was any other, began to restore the temples that 
had been abandoned, and to adore idols, as if they might 
by those means be protected against the mortality. But 
Sebbi, his companion and coheir in the kingdom, with his 
people, very devoutly preserved the faith which he had 
embraced, and, as we shall show hereafter, ended his faith- 
ful life with much felicity. King Wulfhere, understanding 
that the faith of the province was partly profaned, sent 
Bishop Jaruman, who was successor to Trumhere, to cor- 
rect that error, and restore the province to the truth. He 
proceeded with much discretion (as I was informed by a 
priest who bore him company in that journey, and had been 
his fellow-labourer in the word) for he was a religious and 
good man, and travelling through all the country far and 
near, reduced both the aforesaid king and people to the 
way of righteousness, so that either forsaking or destroying 
the temples and altars which they had erected, they opened 
the churches, and rejoiced in confessing the name of Christ, 
which they had opposed, being more desirous to die in him 
with the faith of the resurrection, than to live in the filth 
of apostacy among their idols. These things being per- 
formed, the priests and teachers returned home with joy. 



THE 

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



Ot" THE 



ENGLISH NATION. 



BOOK IV. 



CHAPTER I. 

DEUSDEDIT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, DYING, WIGHARD WAS 
SENT TO ROME TO SUCCEED HIM IN THAT DIGNITY ; BUT HE 
DYING THERE, THEODORE WAS ORDAINED ARCHBISHOP, AND 
SENT INTO BRITAIN Wira THE ABBOT ADRIAN. 

In the above-mentioned year of the aforesaid 
eclipse, which was presently followed by the 
pestilence, in which also Bishop Colman, being overcome 
by the unanimous consent of the Catholics, returned home, 
Deusdedit, the sixth bishop of the church of Canterbury, 
died on the day before the ides of July. Erconbert, also, 
king of Kent, departed this life the same month and day ; 
leaving his kingdom to his son Egbercht, which he held 
nine years. The see then became vacant for some consi- 
derable time, until the priest Wighard, a man skilled in 
ecclesiastical discipline, of the English race, was sent to 
Rome by the said king Egbercht, and Oswy, king of the 
Northumbrians, as was briefly mentioned in the foregoing 
book, with a request that he might be ordained bishop of 
the church of England ; sending at the same time presents 



194 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

to the apostolic pope, and many vessels of gold and silver. 
Arriving at Rome, where Vitalian presided at that time 
over the Apostolic See, and having made known to the 
aforesaid pope the occasion of his journey, he. was not long 
after snatched away, with almost all his companions that 
went with him, by a pestilence which happened at that 
time. But the apostolic pope having consulted about 
that affair, made diligent inquiry for some one to send to 
be archbishop of the English churches. There was then 
in the Niridan monastery, which is not far from the city 
of Naples in Campania, an abbot, called Adrian, by nation 
an African, well versed in holy writ, experienced in monas- 
tical and ecclesiastical discipline, and excellently skilled 
both in the Greek and Latin tongues. The pope, sending 
for him, commanded him to accept of the bishopric, and 
repair into Britain ; he answered, that he was unworthy of 
so great a dignity, but said he could name another, whose 
learning and age were fitter for the episcopal office. And 
having proposed to the pope a certain monk, belonging to a 
neighbouring monastery of virgins, whose name was An- 
drew, he was by all that knew him judged worthy of a 
bishopric ; but bodily infirmity prevented his being ad- 
vanced to the episcopal station. Then again Adrian was 
pressed to accept of the bishopric ; but he desired a respite 
for a time, to see v^^hether he could find another fit to be 
ordained bishop. There was at that time in Rome, a 
monk, called Theodore, well known to Adrian, born at 
Tharsus in Cilicia, a man well instructed in worldly and 
Divine literature, as also in Greek and Latin ; of known 
probity of life, and venerable for age, being sixty-six years 
old. Adrian offered him to the pope to be ordained bishop, 
and prevailed ; but upon these conditions, that he should 
conduct him into Britain, because he had already travelled 
through France twice upon several occasions, and was, 
therefore, better acquainted with the way, and was, more- 
over, sufficiently provided with men of his own; as also 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 195 

that being his fellow-labourer in doctrine, he might take 
special care that Theodore should not, according to the 
custom of the Greeks, introduce any thing contrary to the 
true faith into the church where he presided. Adrian, 
being ordained subdeacon, waited four months for his hair 
to grow, that it might be shorn into the shape of a crown ; 
for he had before the tonsure of St. Paul, the apostle, after 
the manner of the eastern people. He was ordained by 
Pope Vitalian, in the year of our Lord 668, on Sunday, 
the 7th day of the kalends of April, and on the 6th of the 
kalends of June, was sent with Adrian into Britain. They 
proceeded by sea to Marseilles, and thence by land to 
Aries, and having there delivered to John, archbishop of 
that city. Pope Vitalian's letters of recommendation, were 
by him detained till Ebrin, the king's mayor of the palace, 
sent them a pass to go where they pleased. Having re- 
ceived the same, Theodore repaired to Agilbert, Bishop of 
Paris, of whom we have spoken above, and was by him 
kindly received, and long entertained. But Adrian went 
first to Emmesonon, and then to Faron, bishops of Meaux, 
and lived with them a considerable time ; for the hard 
winter had obliged them to rest wherever they could. 
King Egbercht, being informed by messengers that the 
bishop they had asked of the Roman prelate was in the 
kingdom of France, sent thither his president, Redfrid, to 
conduct him ; who, being arrived there, with Ebrin's leave, 
conveyed him to the port of Quentavic ; where, being indis- 
posed, he made some stay, and as soon as he began to 
recover, sailed over into Britain. But Ebrin detained 
Adrian, suspecting that he went on some message from 
the emperor to the kings of Britain, to the prejudice of the 
kingdom, of which he at that time took especial care ; 
however, when he found him really to have no such com- 
mission, he discharged him, and permitted him to follow 
Theodore. As soon as he came, he received from him the 
monastery of St. Peter the Apostle, where the archbishops 

o 2 



196 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

of Canterbury are usually buried, as I have said before; 
for at his departure, the apostolic lord had ordered that he 
should provide for him in his diocese, and give him a place 
where he might live conveniently with his followers. 



CHAPTER II. 

THEODORE VISITS ALL PLACES ; THE CHURCHES OF THE ENGLISH 
BEGIN TO BE INSTRUCTED IN HOLY LITERATURE, AND IN THE 
CATHOLIC TRUTH ; PUTTA IS MADE BISHOP OF THE CHURCH 
OF ROCHESTER IN THE ROOM OF DAMIANUS. 

Theodore arrived at his church the second 
year after his consecration, on Sunday, the 6th 
day of the kalends of June, and held the same twenty-one 
years, three months, and twenty-six days. Soon after, he 
visited all the island, wherever the nations of the Angles 
inhabited, for he was most willingly entertained and heard 
by all persons ; and every where attended and assisted by 
Adrian, he taught the right rule of life, and the canonical 
custom of celebrating Easter. This was the first arch- 
bishop whom all the English church obeyed. And foras- 
much as both of them were, as has been said before, well 
read both in sacred and in secular literature, they gathered 
a crowd of disciples, and there daily flowed from them rivers 
of knowledge to water the hearts of their hearers ; and, 
together with the books of holy writ, they also taught them 
the arts of ecclesiastical poetry, astronomy and arithmetic. 
A testimony of which is, that there are still living at this 
day some of their scholars, who are as well versed in the 
Greek and Latin tongues as in their own, in which they 
were born. Nor were there ever happier times since the 
English came into Britain; whilst their kings being more 
brave and Christian, they were a terror to all barbarous 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 197 

nations, and the minds of all men were bent upon the joys 
of the heavenly kingdom of which they had just heard ; and 
all who desired to be instructed in sacred reading, had 
masters at hand to teach them. From that time also they 
began in all the churches of the English to learn sacred 
music, which till then had been only known in Kent. And 
excepting James above-mentioned, the first singing-master 
in the churches of the Northumbrians was Eddi, surnamed 
Stephen, invited from Kent by the most reverend Wilfrid, 
who was the first of the bishops of the English nation that 
learned to deliver to the churches of the English the Ca- 
tholic mode of hfe. Theodore, visiting all parts, ordained 
bishops in proper places, and with their assistance corrected 
such things as he found faulty. Among the rest, w^hen he 
upbraided Bishop Ceadd that he had not been duly conse- 
crated, he, with great humility, answered, " If you know I 
have not duly received episcopal ordination, I willingly 
resign the office, for I never thought myself worthy of it ; 
but, though unworthy, in obedience submitted to under- 
take it." Hearing his humble answer, he said that he 
should not resign the bishopric, and he himself completed 
his ordination after the Catholic manner. At the same 
time, when Deusdedit died, and a bishop for the church of 
Canterbury was by request ordained and sent, Wilfrid was 
also sent out of Britain into France to be ordained ; and 
because he returned before Theodore, he ordained priests 
and deacons in Kent till the archbishop should come to his 
see. Being arrived in the city of Rochester, where the 
see had been long vacant by the death of Damianus, he 
ordained a person better skilled in ecclesiastical discipline, 
and more addicted to simplicity of life than active in worldly 
affairs, whose name was Putta, and he was extraordinarily 
skilful in church music. 



198 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER III. 

HOW CEADD, ABOVE-MENTIONED, WAS MADE BISHOP OF THE 
MEECIANS. OF HIS LIFE, DEATH, AND BURIAL. 

At that time, the Mercians were governed by King 
Wulfhere, who, on the death of Jaruman, desired of Theo- 
dore to supply him and his people with a bishop ; but 
Theodore would not obtain a new one for them, but re- 
quested of King Oswy that Ceadd might be their bishop. 
He then Hved retired at his monastery, which is at Les- 
tingaeu, Wilfrid filling the bishopric of York, and of all the 
Northumbrians, and likewise of the Picts, as far as the 
dominions of King Oswy extended. And, seeing that it 
was the custom of that most reverend prelate to go about 
the work of the gospel to several places rather on foot than 
on horseback, Theodore commanded him to ride whenever 
he had a long journey to undertake, and finding him very 
unwilling to omit his former pious labour, he himself, with 
his hands, lifted him on the horse ; for he thought him a 
holy man, and therefore obliged him to ride wherever he 
had need to go. Ceadd having received the bishopric of 
the Mercians and Lindisfarn, took care to administer the 
same with great rectitude of life, according to the example 
of the ancients. King Wulfhere also gave him land of 
fifty families, to build a monastery, at the place called 
Etbearwe, or " The Wood," in the province of Lindsey, 
wherein marks of the regular life instituted by him continue 
to this day. He had his episcopal see in the place called 
Licitfeld, in which he also died, and was buried, and where 
the see of the succeeding bishops of that province still con- 
tinues. He had built himself a habitation not far from the 
church, wherein he was wont to pray and read with seven 
or eight of the brethren, as often as he had any spare time 
from the labour and ministry of the word. When he had 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 199 

most gloriously governed the church in that province two 
years and a half, the Divine Providence so ordaining, there 
came round a season like that of which Ecclesiastes says, 
'^' That there is a time to cast stones, and a time to gather 
them ;" for there happened a mortality sent from heaven, 
which, by means of the death of the flesh, translated the 
stones of the church from their earthly places to the hea- 
venly building. And when, after many of the church of 
that most reverend prelate had been taken out of the flesh, 
his hour also drew near wherein he was to pass out of this 
world to our Lord, it happened one day that he was in the 
aforesaid dwelling with only one brother, called Owini, his 
other companion being upon some reasonable occasion 
returned to the church. Now Owini was a monk of great 
merit, having forsaken the world with the pure intention 
of obtaining the heavenly reward ; worthy in all respects 
to have the secrets of our Lord revealed to him, and worthy 
to have credit given by his hearers to what he said, for 
he came with Queen Etheldryd from the province of the 
East Angles, and was her prime minister, and governor of 
her family. As the fervour of his faith increased, resolving 
to renounce the world, he did not go about it slothfully, but 
so fully forsook the things of this world, that, quitting all 
he had, clad in a plain garment, and carrying an axe and 
hatchet in his hand, he came to the monastery of that most 
reverend prelate, called Lestingaeu ; denoting, that he did 
not go to the monastery to live idle, as some do, but to 
labour, which he also confirmed by practice ; for as he was 
less capable of meditating on the holy scriptures, he the 
more earnestly applied himself to the labour of his hands. 
In short, whilst the bishop, respected by the brethren, as 
became him, attended to reading in the aforesaid house, he 
was without doing such things as were necessary. Being 
one day so employed abroad, when his companions were 
gone to the church, as I began to state, and the bishop was 
alone reading or praying in the oratory of that place, on a 



200 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

sudden, as he afterwards said, he heard the voices of per- 
sons singing most sweetly and rejoicing, and appearing to 
descend from heaven. Which voice he said he first heard 
coming from the south-east, and that afterwards it drew 
near him, till it came to the roof of the oratory where the 
bishop was, and entering therein, filled the same and all 
about it. He listened attentively to what he heard, and 
after about half an hour, perceived the same song of joy to 
ascend from the roof of the said oratory, and to return to 
heaven the same way it came, with inexpressible sweetness. 
When he had stood some time astonished, and seriously 
revolving in his mind what it might be, the bishop opened 
the window of the oratory, and making a noise with his 
hand, as he was often wont to do, ordered him to come iji 
to him. He accordingly went hastily in, and the bishop 
said to him, " Make haste to the church, and cause the 
seven brothers to come hither, and do you come with them." 
When they were come, he first admonished them to pre- 
serve the virtue of peace among themselves, and towards 
all others ; and indefatigably to practise the rules of regu- 
lar discipline, which they had either been taught by him, 
or seen him observe, or had noticed in the words or actions 
of the former fathers. Then he added, that the day of his 
death was at hand; for, said he, "that amiable guest, who 
was wont to visit our brethren, has vouchsafed also to come 
to me this day, and to call me out of this world. Return, 
therefore, to the church, and speak to the brethren, that 
they in their prayers recommend my passage to our Lord, 
and that they be careful to provide for their own, the hour 
whereof is uncertain, by watching, prayer, and good works." 
When he had spoken thus much and more, and they, hav- 
ing received his blessing, had gone away in sorrow, he, who 
had heard the heavenly song, returned alone, and prostrat- 
ing himself on the ground, said, "I beseech you, father, may 
I be permitted to ask a question?" "Ask what you will," 
answered the bishop. Then he added, " I entreat you to tell 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 201 

me what song of joy was that which I heard GOming upon 
this oratory, and after some time, returning to heaven T' 
The bishop answered, " If you heard the singing, and know 
the coming of the heavenly company, I command you, in 
the name of our Lord, that you do not tell the same to any 
before my death. They were angelic spirits, who came 
to call me to my heavenly reward, which I have always 
longed after, and they promised they would return seven 
days hence, and take me away with them." Which was 
accordingly fulfilled as had been said to him; for being 
presently seized with a languishing distemper, and the 
same daily increasing, on the seventh day, as had been 
promised to him, when he had prepared for death by re- 
ceiving the body and blood of our Lord, his soul being 
dehvered from the prison of the body, the angels, as may 
justly be believed, attending him, he departed to the joys 
of heaven. It is no wonder that he joyfully beheld the day 
of his death, or rather the day of our Lord, which he had 
always carefully expected till it came ; for notwithstanding 
his many merits of continence, humility, teaching, prayer, 
voluntary poverty, and other virtues, he was so full of the 
fear of God, so mindful of his last end in all his actions, 
that, as I was informed by one of the brothers who in- 
structed me in divinity, and who had been bred in his 
monastery, and under his direction, whose name was 
Trumhere, if it happened that there blew a strong gust of 
wind when he was reading or doing any other thing, he 
immediately called upon God for mercy, and begged it 
might be extended to all mankind. If the wind grew 
stronger, he closed his book, and prostrating himself on 
the ground, prayed still more earnestly. But, if it proved 
a violent storm of wind or rain, or else that the earth and 
air were filled with thunder and lightning, he would repair 
to the church, and devote himself to prayers and repeating 
of psalms till the weather became calm. Being asked by 
his followers why he did so, he answered, " Have not you 
read — ' The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the 



202 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

highest gave forth his voice. Yea, he sent out his arrows 
and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and dis- 
comfited them.' For the Lord moves the air, raises the 
winds, darts Ughtning, and thunders from heaven, to excite 
the inhabitants of the earth to fear him ; to put them in 
mind of the future judgment ; to dispel their pride, and 
vanquish their boldness, by bringing into their thoughts 
that dreadful time, when the heavens and the earth being 
in a flame, he will come in the clouds, with great power 
and majesty, to judge the quick and the dead. Where- 
fore," said he, " it behoves us to answer his heavenly admo- 
nition with due fear and love ; that, as often as, moving the 
air, he lifts his hand, as it were to strike, but does not yet 
let it fall, we may immediately implore his mercy; and search- 
ing the recesses of our hearts, and cleansing the filth of our 
vices, we may carefully behave ourselves so as never to be 
struck.'' To the revelation and account of the aforesaid bro- 
ther, concerning the death of this prelate, is also agreeable 
the discourse of the most reverend Father Egbercht, above 
spoken of, who long led a monastic life with the same 
Ceadd, when both were youths, in Ireland, praying, ob- 
serving continency, and meditating on the holy scriptures. 
But when he afterwards returned into his own country, the 
other continued in a strange country for our Lord's sake till 
the end of his life. A long time after, Hygbald, a most holy 
and continent man, who w^as an abbot in the province of 
Lindsey, came out of Britain to visit him, and whilst these 
holy men discoursed of the life of the former fathers, and 
rejoicing to imitate the same, mention was made of the 
most reverend prelate, Ceadd, and Egbercht said, "I know a 
man in this island, still in the flesh, who, when that prelate 
passed out of this world, saw the soul of his brother Ceddi, 
with a company of angels, descending from heaven, who, 
having taken his soul along with them, returned thither 
again.'' Whether he said this of himself, or some other, 
we do not certainly know ; but the same being said by so 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 203 

great a man, there can be no doubt of the truth thereof. 
Ceadd died on the 6th day of the nones of March, and was 
first buried by St. Mary's church, but afterwards, when the 
church of the most holy prince of the apostles, Peter, was 
built, his bones were translated into it. In both which 
places, as a testimony of his virtue, frequent miraculous 
cures are w^ont to be wrought. And of late, a certain dis- 
tracted person, who had been wandering about every where, 
arrived there in the evening, unknown or unregarded by 
the keepers of the place, and having rested there all the 
night, went out in his perfect senses the next morning, to 
the surprise and delight of all ; thus showing that a cure 
had been performed on him through the goodness of God. 
The place of the sepulchre is a wooden monument, made 
like a little house, covered, having an hole in the wall, 
tlirough which those that go thither for devotion usually 
put in their hand and take out some of the dust, which 
being put into water and given to sick cattle or men to 
drink, they are presently eased of their infirmity, and re- 
stored to health. In his place, Theodore ordained Winfrid, 
a good and modest man, to preside, as his predecessors had 
done, over the bishoprics of the ^lercians, the Midland 
Angles, and the Lindisfarns, of all which, Wulfhere, who 
was still living, was king. Winfrid was one of the clergy 
of the prelate he had succeeded, and had for a considerable 
time filled the ofiice of deacon under him. 



CHAPTER IV. 

BISHOP COLMAN, HAVING LEFT BEITAIN, BUILT TWO MONASTERIES 
IN SCOTLAND ; THE ONE FOR THE SCOTS, THE OTHER FOR THE 
ENGLISH HE HAD TAKEN ALONG W^TH HIM. 

In the meantime, Colman, the Scottish bishop, depart- 
ing from Britain, took along with him all the Scots he had 



204 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

assembled in the Isle of Lindisfarn, and also about thirty 
of the English nation, who had been all instructed in the 
monastic life ; and leaving some brothers in his church, he 
repaired first to the isle of Hii, whence he had been sent 
to preach the word of God to the English nation. After- 
wards he retired to a certain small island, which is to the 
west of Ireland, and at some distance from its coast, called, 
in the language of the Scots, Inhis bofinde, the island of 
the White Heifer. Arriving there, he built a monastery, 
and placed in it the monks he had brought of both nations ; 
who not agreeing among themselves, by reason that the 
Scots, in the summer season, when the harvest was to be 
brought in, leaving the monastery, wandered about through 
places with which they were acquainted ; but returned 
again the next winter, and would have what the English 
had provided to be in common. Colman sought to put an 
end to this dissension, and travelling about far and near, he 
found a place in the island of Ireland fit to build a monas- 
tery, which, in the language of the Scots, is called Mageo, 
and bought a small part of it of the earl to whom it be- 
longed, to build his monastery thereon; upon condition, 
that the monks residing there should pray to our Lord for 
him who let them have the place. Then building a monas- 
tery, with the assistance of the earl and all the neighbours, 
he placed the English there, leaving the Scots in the afore- 
said island. This monastery is to this day possessed by 
English inhabitants ; being the same that, grown up from 
a small beginning to be very large, is generally called 
Mageo ; and as all things have long since been brought 
under a better method, it contains an exemplary society of 
monks, who are gathered there from the province of the 
English, and live by the labour of their hands, after the 
example of the venerable fathers, under a rule and a 
canonical abbot, in much continency and singleness of life. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. ' 205 



CHAPTER V. 

OF THE DEATH OF THE KINGS OSWY AND EGBERCHT, AND OF THE 
SYNOD HELD AT HEORUTFORD, IN WHICH ARCHBISHOP THEO- 
DORE PRESIDED. 

In the year of the incarnation of our Lord 670, being 
the second year after Theodore arrived in England, Oswy, 
king of the Northumbrians, fell sick and died, in the fifty- 
eighth year of his age. He at that time bore so great 
affection to the Roman apostolical institution, that had he 
recovered of his sickness, he had designed to go to Rome, 
and there to end his days at the holy places, having en- 
treated Bishop Wilfrid, by the promise of a considerable 
donation in money, to conduct him on his journey. He 
died on the 14th of the kalends of March, leaving his son 
Ecgfrid his successor in the kingdom. In the third year 
of his reign, Theodore assembled a synod of bishops, and 
many other teachers of the Church, who loved and were 
acquainted with the canonical statutes of the fathers. 
When they were met together, he began, as became a pre- 
late, to enjoin the observation of such things as were 
agreeable to the unity of the peace of the Church. The 
purport of which synodical proceedings is as follows : — 

" In the name of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
who reigns for ever and for ever, and governs his Church, 
it was thought meet that we should assemble, according to 
the custom of the venerable canons, to treat about the 
necessary affairs of the Church. We met on the 24th day 
of September, the first indiction, at the place called Heorut- 
ford, myself, Theodore, the unworthy bishop of the see of 
Canterbury, appointed by the Apostolic See, our fellow 
priest and most reverend brother, Bisi, bishop of the East 
Angles ; also by his proxies, our brother and fellow priest, 
Wilfrid, bishop of the nation of the Northumbrians, as also 



206 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

our brothers and fellow priests, Putta, bishop of the 
Kentish castle, called Rofecester; Leutlierius, bishop of 
the West Saxons, and Winfrid, bishop of the province of 
the Mercians. When we were all met together, and were 
sat down in order, I said, ' I beseech you, most dear 
brothers, for the love and fear of our Redeemer, that we 
may all treat in common for our faith ; to the end that 
whatsoever has been decreed and defined by the holy and 
revered fathers, may be inviolably observed by all.' This 
and much more I spoke tending to the preservation of the 
charity and unity of the Church ; and when I had ended 
my discourse, I asked every one of them in order, whether 
they consented to observe the things that had been for- 
merly canonically decreed by the fathers? To which all 
our fellow priests answered, * It so pleases us, and we will 
all most willingly observe A^ith a cheerful mind w^hatever is 
laid do\^Ti in the canons of the holy fathers.^ I then pro- 
duced the said book of canons, and publicly showed them 
ten chapters in the same, which I had marked in several 
places, because I knew them to be of the most importance 
to us, and entreated that they might be most particularly 
received by them all. 

" Chapter I. That we all in common keep the holy 
day of Easter on the Sunday after the fourteenth moon 
of the first month. II. That no bishop intrude into the 
diocese of another, but be satisfied with the government of 
the people committed to him. III. That it shall not be 
lawful for any bishop to trouble monasteries dedicated to 
God, nor to take any thing forcibly from them. IV. That 
monks do not remove from one place to another, that is, 
from monastery to monastery, unless by the consent of their 
own abbot ; but that they continue in the obedience which 
they promised at the time of their conversion. V. That 
no clergyman, forsaking his o^ti bishop, shall wander 
about, or be any where entertained without letters of re- 
commendation from his ovm prelate. But if he shall be 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 207 

once received, and will not return when invited, both the 
receiver, and the person received, be under excommunica- 
tion. YI. That bishops and clergymen, when travelling, 
shall be content with the hospitality that is afforded them ; 
and that it be not lawful for them to exercise any priestly 
function without leave of the bishop in whose diocese they 
are. VII. That a synod be assembled twice a year ; but 
in regard that several causes obstruct the same, it was ap- 
proved by all, that we should meet on the kalends of August 
once a year, at the place called Clofeshooh. VIII. That 
no bishop, through ambition, shall set himself before an- 
other ; but that they shall all observe the time and order 
of their consecration. IX. It was generally set forth, that 
more bishops should be made, as the number of believers 
increased ; but this matter for the present was passed over. 
X. Of marriages, that none be allowed any but lawful 
wedlock ; that none commit incest ; no man quit his true 
wife, unless, as the gospel teaches, on account of fornica- 
tion. And if any man shall put away his own wife, lawfully 
joined to him in matrimony, that he take no other, if he 
wishes to be a good Christian, but contmue as he is, or else 
be reconciled to his own wife. 

" These chapters being thus treated of and defined by 
all, to the end, that for the future, no scandal of contention 
might arise from any of us, or that things be falsely set 
forth, it was thought fit that every one of us should, by 
subscribing his hand, confirm all the particulars so laid 
down. Which definitive judgment of ours, I dictated to 
be WTitten by our notary. Done in the month and indic- 
tion aforesaid. Whosoever, therefore, shall presume in any 
way to oppose or infringe this decision, confirmed by our 
consent, and by the subscription of our hands, according to 
the decree of the canons, must take notice, that he is ex- 
cluded from all sacerdotal functions, and from our society. 
May the Divine grace preserve us in safety, living in the 
unity of his holy Church." 



208 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

This synod was held in the year from the incarnation of 
our Lord 673. In which year, Egbercht, king of Kent, 
died in the month of July ; his brother Lothere succeeded 
him on the throne, which he had held eleven years and 
seven months. Bisi, the bishop of the East Angles, who is 
said to have been in the aforesaid synod, was successor to 
Boniface, before spoken of, a man of much sanctity and 
religion ; for when Boniface died, after having been bishop 
seventeen years, he was by Theodore substituted in his 
place. Whilst he was still alive, but hindered by much 
sickness from administering his episcopal functions, two 
bishops, Ecci and Badwine, were elected and consecrated 
in his place ; from which time to the present, that province 
has had two bishops. 



CHAPTER VL 

WINFRID BEING DEPOSED, SEXULF WAS PUT INTO HIS SEE, AND 
MADE BISHOP OF THE EAST SAXONS. 

Not long after, Theodore, the archbishop, taking offence 
at some disobedience of Wmfrid, bishop of the Mercians, 
deposed him from his bishopric when he had been possessed 
of it but a few years, and in his place made Sexulf bishop, 
who was founder and abbot of the monastery of Medesham- 
stede, in the country of the Girvii. Winfrid, thus deposed, 
returned to his monastery of Adbarve, and there ended his 
life in holy conversation. He then also appointed Earcon- 
wald bishop of the East Saxons, in the city of London, 
over whom at that time presided Sebbe and Sighere, of 
w^hom mention has been made above. This Earconwald's 
life and conversation, as well when he was bishop as before 
his advancement to that dignity, is reported to have been 
most holy, as is even at this time testified by heavenly 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 209 

miracles ; for to this day, his horse litter, on which he was 
wont to be carried when sick, is kept by his disciples, and 
continues to cure many of agues and other distempers ; and 
not only sick persons who are laid in that litter, or close by 
it, are cured ; but the very chips of it, when carried to the 
sick, are wont immediately to restore them to health. This 
man, before he was made bishop, had built two famous 
monasteries, the one for himself, and the other for his sister 
Ethilburga, and established them both in regular discipline 
of the best kind. That for himself was in the county of 
Surrey, by the river Thames, at a place called Ceortesei, 
that is, the island of Ceorot ; that for his sister in the pro- 
vince of the East Saxons, at the place called Bercingum, 
wherein she might be a mother and nurse of devout women. 
Being put into the government of that monastery, she 
behaved herself in all respects as became the sister of such 
a brother, living herself regularly, and piously, and orderly, 
providing for those under her, as was also manifested by 
heavenly miracles. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THAT A HEAVENLY LIGHT SHOWED ^VHERE THE BODIES OF THE 
NUNS SHOULD BE BURIED IN THE MONASTERY OF BERKING. 

In this monastery many miracles were wrought, which 
have been committed to writing by many, from those who 
knew them, that their memory might be preserved, and fol- 
lowing generations edified ; some whereof we have also taken 
care to insert in our " Ecclesiastical History." When the 
mortality, which we have already so often mentioned, ravag- 
ing all about, had also seized on that part of this monastery 
where the men resided, and they were daily hurried away 

p 



210 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

to meet their God, tlie careful mother of the society began 
often to inquire in the convent, of the sisters, where they 
would have their bodies buried, and where a church-yard 
should be made, when the same pestilence should fall upon 
that part of the monastery in which God's female servants 
were divided from the men, and they sliould be snatched 
away out of this world by the same destruction. Receiving 
no certain answer, though she often put the question to the 
sisters, she and all of them received a most certain answer 
from heaven. For one night, when the morning psalm was 
ended, and those servants of Christ were gone out of their 
oratory to the tombs of the brothers who had departed this 
life before them, and were singing the usual praises to our 
Lord, on a sudden a light from heaven, like a great sheet, 
came down upon them all, and struck them with so much 
terror, that they, in consternation, left off singing. But 
that resplendent light, which seemed to exceed the sun at 
noon-day, soon after rising from that place, removed to the 
south side of the monastery, that is, to the westward of the 
oratory, and having continued there some time, and covered 
those parts in the sight of them all, withdrew itself up 
again to heaven, leaving conviction in the minds of all that 
the same light, which was to lead or to receive the souls of 
those servants of God into heaven, was intended to show 
the place in which their bodies w^ere to rest, and await the 
day of the resurrection. This light was so great, that one 
of the eldest of the brothers, who at the same time was in 
their oratory with another younger than himself, related in 
the morning, that the rays of light which came in at the 
crannies of the doors and windows, seemed to exceed the 
utmost brightness of daylight itself. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 2ll 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A LITTLE BOY, DYING IN THE SAME MONASTERY, CALLED UPON A 
VIRGIN THAT WAS TO FOLLOW HIM ; ANOTHER AT THE POINT 
OF LEAVING HER BODY, SAW SOME SMALL PART OP THE FUTURE 
GLORY. 

There was, in the same monastery, a boy, not above 
three years old, called Esica ; who, by reason of his infant 
age, was bred up among the virgins dedicated to God, and 
there to meditate. This child being seized by the aforesaid 
pestilence, when he was at the last gasp, called three times 
upon one of the virgins consecrated to God, directing his 
words to her by her own name, as if she had been present, 
Eadgyth, Eadgyth, Eadgyth ! and thus ending his tem- 
poral life, entered into that which is eternal. The virgin, 
whom he called, was immediately seized, where she was, 
with the same distemper, and departing this life the same 
day on which she had been called, followed him that called 
her into the heavenly country. 

Likewise, one of those same servants of God, being ill 
of the same disease, and reduced to extremity, began on a 
sudden, about midnight, to cry out to them that attended 
her, desiring they would put out the candle that was lighted 
there ; which, when she had often repeated, and yet no one 
did it, at last she said, " I know you think I speak this in 
a raving fit, but let me inform you it is not so ; for I tell 
you, that I see this house filled with so much light, that 
your candle there seems to me to be dark." And when still 
no one regarded what she said, or returned any answer, she 
added, " Let that candle burn as long as you will ; but take 
notice, that it is not my light, for my light will come to me 
at the dawn of the day." Then she began to tell, that a cer- 
tain man of God, who had died that same year, had appeared 
to her, teUing her that at the break of day she should 



212 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

depart to the heavenly light. The truth of which vision 
was made out by the virgin's dying as soon as the day 
appeared. 



CHAPTER IX. 

OF THE SIGNS SHOWN FROM HEAVEN WHEN THE MOTHER OF THAT 
CONGREGATION DEPARTED THIS LIFE. 

When Edilburg, the pious mother of that holy congre- 
gation, was about to be taken out of this world, a wonder- 
ful vision appeared to one of the sisters, called Torchgyth ; 
who, having lived many years in that monastery, always 
endeavoured, in all humility and sincerity, to serve God, 
and took care to assist the same mother in keeping up 
regular discipline, by instructing and reproving the young 
ones. Now, in order that her virtue might be perfected in 
affliction, according to the apostle, she was suddenly seized 
with a most grievous distemper, under which, through the 
good providence of our Redeemer, she suffered very much 
for the space of nine years; to the end, that whatever stain 
of vice remained amidst her virtues, either through igno- 
rance or neglect, might all be eradicated by the fire of 
long tribulation. This person, going out of her chamber 
one night, just at the first dawn of the day, plainly saw as 
it were a human body, which was brighter than the sun, 
wrapped up in a sheet, and lifted up on high, being taken 
out of the house in which the sisters used to reside. Then 
looking earnestly to see what it was that drew up the 
glorious body which she beheld, she perceived it was drawn 
up as it were by cords brighter than gold, until, entering 
into the open heavens, it could no longer be seen by her. 
Reflecting on this vision, she made no doubt that some one 
of the society would soon die, and her soul be lifted up to 
heaven by her good works as it were by golden cords, which 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 213 

accordingly happened ; for a few days after, the beloved of 
God, Edilburg, mother of that society, was delivered out 
of the prison of the flesh ; and her life is known to have 
been such that no person who knew her ought to question 
but that the heavenly kingdom was open to her, when she 
departed from this world. 

There was also, in the same monastery, a certain nun, 
of noble worldly origin, and much nobler in the love of the 
world to come ; who had, for many years, been so disabled 
in all her body, that she could not move a single limb. 
Being informed that the venerable abbess's body was car- 
ried into the church, till it could be buried, she desired to 
be carried thither, and to be bowed down towards it, after 
the manner of one praying ; which being done, she spoke 
to her as if she had been living, and entreated her that she 
would obtain of the mercy of our compassionate Creator, 
that she might be delivered from such great and lasting 
pains ; nor was it long before her prayer was heard : for 
being taken out of the flesh twelve days after, she ex- 
changed her temporal afflictions for an eternal reward. 
Three years after the death of this lady, the above-men- 
tioned servant of Christ, Torchgyth, was so far spent with 
the distemper before-mentioned, that her bones would 
scarcely hang together ; and, at last, when the time of her 
dissolution was at hand, she not only lost the use of her 
other limbs, but also of her tongue ; which having con- 
tinued three days and as many nights, she was, on a sud- 
den, relieved by a spiritual vision, opened her mouth and 
eyes, and looking up to heaven, began thus to direct her 
discourse to the vision which she saw : " Your coming is. 
very acceptable to me, and you are welcome ! " Having so ' 
said, she was silent awhile, as it were waiting for the 
answer of the person she saw and spoke to ; then, as if 
displeased, she said, " I am not pleased with this ; " then 
pausing awhile, she said again, " If it cannot be to-day, I 
beg the delay may not be long;" and again holding her 



214 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

peace a short while, she concluded thus : " If it is positively 
so decreed, and the resolution cannot be altered, I beg 
that it may be no longer deferred than this next night." 
Having so said, and being asked by those about her to 
whom she talked, she said, " With my most dear mother, 
Ethilburg ; " by which they understood, that she was come 
to acquaint her that the time of her departure was at 
hand : for, as she had desired, after one day and night, she 
was delivered from the bonds and her infirmity of the flesh, 
and entered the joys of eternal salvation. 



CHAPTER X. 

A BLIND WOMAN, PRAYING IN THE BURIAL-PLACE OF THAT 
MONASTERY, WAS RESTORED TO HER SIGHT. 

HiLDELiD, a devout servant of God, succeeded Ethilburg 
in the office of abbess, and presided over that monastery 
many years, till she was of an extreme old age, with exem- 
plary conduct, in the observance of regular discipline, and 
in the care of providing all things for the public use. The 
narrowness of the place where the monastery is built, led 
her to think that the bones of the male and female servants 
of Christ, which had been there buried, should be taken 
up, and translated into the church of the blessed Mother of 
God, and interred in one place ; whoever wishes to read it, 
may find in the book from which we have gathered these 
things, how often a brightness of heavenly light was seen 
there, and a fragrancy of wonderful odour smelled, and what 
other miracles wi'ought. However, I think it by no means 
fit to pass over the miraculous cure, which the same book 
informs us was wrought in the church-yard of the said reli- 
gious house. There lived in that neighbourhood a certain 
earl, whose wife was seized with a dimness in her eyes, 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 215 

which at length became so bad, that she could not see the 
least glimpse of light ; having continued some time in total 
darkness, on a sudden she bethought herself that she might 
recover her lost sight, if she were carried to the monastery 
of the nuns, and there pray for the same, at the relics of 
the saints. Nor did she lose any time in performing what 
she had thought of; for being conducted by her maids to 
the monastery, which was very near, and professing that 
she had perfect faith that she should be there healed, she 
was led into the burial-place ; and having long prayed there 
on her knees, she did not fail to be heard, for as she rose 
from prayer, before she went out of the place, she received 
the gift of sight which she had desired ; and whereas she 
had been led thither by her servants, she now returned 
home joyfully without help ; as if she had lost her sight to 
no other end than that she might make it appear how great 
light the saints enjoyed in heaven, and how great was the 
power of their virtue. 



CHAPTER XL 

SEBBI, KING OF THE SAME PROVINCE, ENDED HIS LIFE IN 
MONASTICAL CONVERSATION. 

At that time, as the same little book informs us, Sebbi, 
a devout man, of whom mention has been made above, 
governed the kingdom of the East Saxons. He was much 
addicted to religious actions, almsgivings, and frequent 
prayer ; preferring a private and monastic life to all the 
wealth and honours of his kingdom, which sort of life he 
would also long before have undertaken, had not his wife 
positively refused to be divorced from him ; for which rea- 
son many were of opinion, (as has been often said,) that a 
person of such a disposition ought rather to have been a 



216 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

bishop than a king. When he had been thirty years a 
king, and a soldier of the heavenly Idngdom, he fell into a 
violent sickness, of which he died, and admonished his wife, 
that they should then at least jointly devote themselves to 
the service of God, since they could no longer enjoy, or 
rather serve, the world. Having with much difficulty ob- 
tained this of her, he repaired to Waldhere, Bishop of 
London, who had succeeded Erconwald, and with his bless- 
ing received the religious habit, which he had long desired. 
He also carried to him a considerable sum of money, to be 
given to the poor, reserving nothing for himself, but rather 
coveting to remain poor in spirit for the sake of the king- 
dom of heaven. When the aforesaid distemper increased 
upon him, and he perceived the day of his death to draw 
near, being a man of a royal disposition, he began to ap- 
prehend lest, when under pain, and at the approach of 
death, he might be guilty of any thing unworthy of his per- 
son, either in words, or any motion of his limbs. Where- 
fore, calling to him the aforesaid Bishop of London, in 
which city he then was, he entreated him that none might 
be present at his death, besides the bishop himself, and two 
of his attendants. The bishop having promised that he 
would most willingly perform the same, not long after the 
man of God composed himself to sleep, and saw a comfort- 
ing vision, which took from him all anxiety for the afore- 
said uneasiness ; and, moreover, showed him on what day 
he was to depart this life. For, as he afterwards related, 
he saw three men in bright garments come to him ; one of 
whom sat down before his bed, whilst his companions stood 
and inquired about the state of the sick man they came to 
see : he who was sitting in front of the bed said, that his 
soul should depart his body without any pain, and with a 
great splendour of light ; and declared that he should die 
the third day after ; both which particulars happened, as 
he had been informed by the vision ; for on the third day 
after, he suddenly fell, as it were, into a slumber, and 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 217 

breathed out his soul without any sense or pain. A stone 
coffin having been provided for burying his body, when they 
came to lay it in the same, they found his body a span 
longer than the coffin. Hereupon they hewed away the 
stone, and made the coffin about two fingers longer ; but 
neither would it then contain the body. Under this diffi- 
culty of entombing him, they had thoughts either to get 
another coffin, or else to shorten the body, by bending it 
at the knees, if they could. But a wonderful event, caused 
by Providence, prevented the execution of either of those 
designs ; for on a sudden, in the presence of the bishop, 
and Sighard, the son of the king who had turned monk, and 
who reigned after him jointly with his brother Suefred, and 
of a considerable number of men, that same coffin was 
found to answer the length of the body, insomuch that a 
pillow might also be put in at the head ; and at the feet 
the coffin was four fingers longer than the body. He was 
buried in the church of the blessed Apostle of the Gentiles, 
by whose instructions he had learned to hope for heavenly 
things. 



CHAPTER XII. 

HAEDDI SUCCEEDS LEUTHEEIUS IN THE BISHOPRIC OF THE WEST 
SAXONS ; QUICHELM SUCCEEDS PUTTA IN THAT OF ROCHESTER, 
AND IS HIMSELF SUCCEEDED BY GEBMUND ; AND WHO WERE 
THEN BISHOPS OF THE NORTHUMBRIANS. 

, ^ ^^^ Leutherius was the fourth bishop of the 

A. D. 6/3. ^ . . ^ 

^Vest Saxons ; for Birinus was the first, Agil- 

bert the second, and Wini the third. When CenwaUi, 

in whose reign the said Leutherius w^as made bishop, died, 

liis under rulers took upon them the kingdom of the people, 

and dividing it among themselves, held it ten years ; and 



218 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

during their rule he died, and Heddi succeeded him in the 
bishopric, having been consecrated by Theodore, in the 
city of London, during whose prelacy, Ceadwalla, having 
subdued and removed those rulers, took upon him the 
government. When he had reigned two years, and whilst 
the same bishop still governed the church, he quitted his 
sovereignty for the love of the heavenly kingdom, and, going 
away to Rome, ended his days there, as shall be said more 
fully hereafter. 

In the year of our Lord's incarnation 676, when Ethil- 
red, king of the Mercians, ravaged Kent with a powerful 
army, and profaned churches and monasteries, without re- 
gard to religion, or the fear of God, he among the rest 
destroyed the city of Rochester ; Putta, who was bishop, 
was absent at that time, but when he understood that his 
church was ravaged, and all things taken away, he went 
to Sexulf, bishop of the Mercians, and having received of 
him a certain church, and a small spot of land, ended his 
days there in peace ; in no way endeavouring to restore his 
bishopric, because (as has been said above) he was more 
industrious in spiritual than in worldly affairs ; serving 
God only in that church, and going wherever he was desired, 
to teach church music. Theodore consecrated Quichelm 
to be Bishop of Rochester in his stead ; but he, not long 
after, departing from his bishopric for want of necessaries, 
and withdrawing to other parts, Gebmund was substituted 
in his place. 

In the year of our Lord's incarnation 678, which is the 
eighth of the reign of Ecgfrid, in the month of August, 
appeared a star, called a comet, which continued for three 
months, rising in the morning, and darting out, as it were, 
a pillar of radiant flame. The same year a dissension 
broke out between King Ecgfrid, and the most reverend 
prelate, Wilfrid, who was driven from his see, and two 
bishops substituted in his stead, to preside over the nation 
of the Northumbrians, namely, Bosa to preside over the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 219 

nation of the Deiri ; and Eata over that of the Bernicians ; 
the latter having his see in the city of York, the former 
in the church of Hagulstad, or Lindisfarn ; both of them 
promoted to the episcopal dignity from a society of monks. 
With them also was Edhed ordained bishop in the province 
of Lindsey, which King Ecgfrid had but newly subdued, 
having overcome and vanquished Wulf here, and this was the 
first bishop of its own which that province had ; the second 
was Edilwin ; the third Eadgar ; the fourth Cymbercht ; 
who is there at present. Before Edhed, Sexwulf was bishop 
as well of that province, as of the Mercians and Midland 
Angles ; so that when expelled from Lindsey, he continued 
in the government of those provinces. Edhed, Bosa, and 
Eata were ordained at York by Archbishop Theodore ; 
who also, three years after the departure of Wilfrid, added 
two bishops to their number, Trumbercht in the church of 
Hagulstad, Eata still continuing in that of Lindisfarn ; and 
Trumwine in the province of the Picts, which at that time 
was subject to the English. Edhed returning from Lind- 
sey, because Ethilred had recovered that province, was 
placed by him over the church of Rhipe. 



CHAPTER XKL 

BISHOP WILFRID CONVERTED THE PROVINCE OF THE SOUTH 
SAXONS TO CHRIST. 

Wilfrid, being expelled from his bishopric, and having 
travelled in several parts, went to Rome, and returned to 
Britain ; and though he could not, by reason of the enmity 
of the aforesaid king, be received into his own country or 
diocese, yet he could not be restrained from preaching the 
gospel ; for taking his way into the province of the South 
Saxons, which extends from Kent on the west and south, 
as far as the West Saxons, and contains land of 7000 



220 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

families, who at that time were still Pagans, he adminis- 
tered to them the word of faith, and the baptism of salva- 
tion. Edilwalch, king of that nation, had been, not long 
before, baptized in the province of the Mercians, by the 
persuasion of King Wulfhere, who was present, and was 
also his godfather, and as such gave him two provinces, 
viz, the isle of Wight, and the province of Meawara, in 
the nation of the West Saxons. The bishop, therefore, 
with the king's consent, or rather to his great satisfac- 
tion, baptized the principal generals and soldiers of that 
country; and the priests, Eappa, and Padda, and Burg- 
helm, and Eadda, either then, or afterwards, baptized 
the rest of the people. The queen, whose name was 
Ebba, had been christened in her own island, the province 
of the Wiccii. She was the daughter of Eanfrid, the 
brother of Eanher, who were both Christians, as were 
their people ; but all the province of the South Saxons were 
strangers to the name and faith of God. There was among 
them a certain monk of the Scottish nation, whose name 
was Dicul, who had a very small monastery, at the place 
called Bosanham, encompassed with the sea and woods, 
and in it five or six brothers, who served our Lord in 
poverty and humility ; but none of the natives cared either 
to follow their course of life, or hear their preaching. But 
Bishop Wilfrid, by preaching to them, not only delivered 
them from the misery of perpetual damnation, but also 
from an inexpressible calamity of temporal death, for no 
rain had fallen in that province in three years before his 
arrival, whereupon a dreadful famine ensued, which cruelly 
destroyed the people. In short, it is reported, that very 
often, forty or fifty men being spent with want, would go 
together to some precipice, or to the sea shore, and there, 
hand in hand, perish by the fall, or be swallowed up by the 
waves. But on the very day on which the nation received 
the baptism of faith, there fell a soft but plentiful rain ; 
the earth revived again, and the verdure being restored to 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 221 

the fields, the season was pleasant and fruitful. Thus the 
former superstition being rejected, and idolatry exploded, 
the hearts and flesh of all rejoiced in the living God, and 
became convinced that he who is the true God had, 
through his heavenly grace, enriched them with wealth, 
both temporal and spiritual. For the bishop, when he 
came into the province, and found so great misery from 
famine, taught them to get their food by fishing ; for their 
sea and rivers abounded in fish, but the people had no skill 
to take them, except eels alone. The bishop's men having 
gathered eel-nets every where, cast them into the sea, and 
by the blessing of God took three hundred fishes of several 
sorts, which, being divided into three parts, they gave a 
hundred to the poor, a hundred to those of whom they had 
the nets, and kept a hundred for their own use. By this 
benefit the bishop gained the affections of them all, and 
they began more readily at his preaching to hope for hea- 
venly goods, seeing that by his help they had received those 
which are temporal. At this time. King Edilwalch gave 
to the most reverend prelate, Wilfrid, land of eighty-seven 
families, to maintain his company who were in banishment, 
which place is called Seleseu, ,that is, the island of the Sea- 
Calf. That place is encompassed by the sea on all sides, 
except the west, where is an entrance about the cast of a 
sling in width ; which sort of place is by the Latins called 
a peninsula, by the Greeks, a chersonesus. Bishop Wil- 
frid, having this place given him, founded therein a monas- 
tery, which his successors possess to this day, and esta- 
blished a regular course of life, chiefly of the brethren he 
had brought with him ; for he both in word and actions 
performed the duties of a bishop in those parts during the 
space of five years, until the death of King Ecgfrid. And 
forasmuch as the aforesaid king, together with the said 
place, gave him all the goods that were therein, with the 
lands and men, he instructed them in the faith of Christ, 
and baptized them all. Among whom were two hundred 



222 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

and fifty men and women slaves, all of whom he, by bap- 
tism, not only rescued from the servitude of the devil, but 
gave them their bodily liberty also, and exempted them 
from the yoke of human servitude. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HOW A PESTILENTIAL MORTALITY CEASED THROUGH THE INTER- 
CESSION OF KING OSWALD. 

In this monastery, at that time, certain manifestations 
of the heavenly grace are said to have been shown forth ; 
for the tyranny of the devil having been recently exploded, 
the faith of Christ began to prevail therein. Of which 
number I have thought it proper to perpetuate the memory 
of one, which the most reverend Bishop Acca was wont to 
relate to me, affirming it had been told him by most cre- 
ditable brothers of the same monastery. About the same 
time that this province of the South Saxons embraced the 
faith of Christ, a grievous mortality ran through many 
provinces of Britain ; which, also, by the Divine dispensa- 
tion, reached to the aforesaid monastery, then governed by 
the most reverend and religious priest of Christ, Eappa, 
and many, as well of those that came thither with the 
bishop, as of those that had been called to the faith of the 
same province of the South Saxons, were snatched away 
out of this world. The brethren, in consequence, thought 
fit to keep a fast of three days, and to implore the Divine 
goodness, that it would vouchsafe to extend mercy to them, 
either by delivering those that were in danger by the dis- 
temper from death, or by delivering those who departed 
this life from eternal damnation. There was at that time 
in the monastery, a little boy, of the Saxon nation, lately 
called to the faith, who had been seized with the same dis- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 223 

temper, and had long kept his bed. On the second day of 
the fasting and praying, it happened that the said boy was, 
about the second hour of the day, left alone in the place 
where he lay sick, and through the Divine disposition, the 
most blessed princes of the apostles vouchsafed to appear 
to him ; for he was a lad of an extraordinary mild and in- 
nocent disposition, and with sincere devotion observed the 
mysteries of the faith which he had received. The apostles 
therefore saluting him in a most affectionate manner, said, 
" My child, do not fear death, about which you are so 
uneasy ; for we will this day conduct you to the heavenly 
kingdom ; but you are first to stay till the masses are said, 
that having received the body and blood of our Lord, to 
support you on your journey, and being so discharged 
through sickness and death, you may be carried up to the 
everlasting joys in heaven. Call therefore the priest, Eappa, 
and tell him, that the Lord has heard your prayers and 
devotion, and has favourably accepted of your fast, and not 
one more shall die of this plague, either in the monastery 
or its adjacent possessions; but all your people who any 
where labour under this distemper, shall be eased of their 
pain, and restored to their former health, except you alone, 
who are this day to be delivered by death, and to be carried 
into heaven, to behold our Lord Christ, whom you have 
faithfully served ; this favour the Divine mercy has vouch- 
safed to grant you, through the intercession of the godly 
and dear servant of God, King Oswald, who formerly ruled 
over the nation of the Northumbrians, with the authority 
of a temporal king, and such devotion of Christian piety as 
leads to the heavenly kingdom ; for this very day that 
king was killed in war by the infidels, and taken up 
to the everlasting joys of souls in heaven, and associated 
among the number of the elect. Let them look in their 
books, wherein the departure of the dead is set down, and 
they will find that he was, this day, as we have said, taken 
out of this world. Let them therefore celebrate masses in 



224 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

all the oratories of this monastery, either in thanksgiving 
for their prayers being heard, or else in memory of the 
aforesaid King Oswald, who once governed their nation ; 
and therefore he humbly offered up his prayers to our Lord 
for them, as for strangers of his nation ; and let all the 
brethren, assembling in the church, communicate in the 
heavenly sacrifices, and so let them cease to fast, and 
refresh themselves with food." The boy called the priest, 
and repeated all these words to him ; the priest particularly 
inquired after the habit and form of the men that had ap- 
peared to him. He answered, " Their habit was noble, and 
their countenances most pleasant and beautiful, such as I 
had never seen before, nor did I think there could be any 
men so graceful and comely. One of them indeed was 
shorn like a clerk, the other had a long beard ; and they 
said that one of them was called Peter, the other Paul ; 
and both of them the servants of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, sent by him from heaven to protect our mo- 
nastery." The priest believed what the boy said, and going 
thence immediately, looked in his chronicle, and found that 
King Oswald had been killed on that very day. He then 
called the brethren, ordered dinner to be provided, masses 
to be said, and all of them to communicate as usual ; 
causing also part of the Lord's oblation of the same sacri- 
fice to be carried to the sick boy. Soon after this, the boy 
died, on that same day ; and by his death proved that 
what he had heard from the apostles of God, was true. A 
further testimony of the truth of his words was, that no 
person besides himself, belonging to the same monastery, 
died at that time. By which vision, many that heard of it 
were w^onderfully excited to implore the Divine mercy in 
adversity, and to adopt the wholesome remedy of fasting. 
From that time, the day of the nativity of that king and 
soldier of Christ began to be yearly honoured with the 
celebration of masses, not only in that monastery, but in 
many other places. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 225 



CHAPTER XY. 

KING CEADWALL HAVING SLAIN EDILWALCH, KING OF THE 
WEST SAXONS, WASTED THAT PROVINCE WITH RAPINE AND 
SLAUGHTER. 

In the meantime, Ceadwall, a daring young man, of the 
royal race of the West Saxons, who had been banished his 
country, came with an army, slew Edilwalch, and wasted 
that country with much slaughter and plundering ; but he 
was soon expelled by Berchthum and Andhun, the king's 
commanders, who afterwards held the government of that 
province. The first of them was afterwards killed by the 
same Ceadwall, when he was king of the West Saxons, and 
the province was more entirely subdued ; Ina, likewise, v/ho 
reigned after Ceadwall, kept that country under the like 
servitude for several years; for which reason, during all 
that time, they had no bishop of their own ; but their first 
bishop, Wilfred, having been recalled home, they were sub- 
ject to the Bishop of the West Saxons, whose see was in 
the city of Winchester. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HOW THE ISLE OF WIGHT RECEIVED CHRISTIAN INHABITANTS, AND 
TWO ROYAL YOUTHS OF THAT ISLAND WERE KILLED IMME- 
DIATELY AFTER BAPTISM. 

After Ceadwall had possessed himself of the kingdom of 
the West Saxons, he also took the isle of Wight, which 
till then was entirely given over to idolatry, and by cruel 
slaughter endeavoured to destroy all the inhabitants thereof, 
and to place in their stead people from his own province ; 



226 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

having bound himself by a vow, though he was not yet, as 
is reported, regenerated in Christ, to give the fourth part 
of the land, and of the booty, to our Lord, if he took the 
island, which he performed by giving the same for our Lord 
to the use of Bishop Wilfrid, who happened at the time to 
have accidentally come thither out of his own nation. The 
measure of that island, according to the computation of 
the English, is of twelve hundred families, and accordingly 
the bishop had given him land of three hundred families. 
The part which he received, he committed to one of his 
clerks called Bernuin, who was his sister's son, assigning 
him a priest, whose name was Hiddila, who might admi- 
nister the word and baptism of salvation to all that would 
be saved. Here I think it ought not to be omitted that, 
as the first fruits of the natives of that island that by be- 
lieving were saved, two royal youths, brothers to Atvald, 
king of the island, were honoured by the particular grace 
of God. For the enemy approaching, they made their 
escape out of the island, and passed over into the neigh- 
bouring province of the Juti. Where being conducted to 
the place called. At the Stone, as they thought to be 
concealed from the victorious king, they were betrayed and 
ordered to be killed. This being made known to a certain 
abbot and priest, whose name was Kyneberht, who had a 
monastery not far from thence, at a place called Hreut- 
ford, that is, the Ford of Reeds ; he came to the king, who 
then lay privately in those parts, to be cured of the wounds 
which he had received whilst he was fighting in the isle of 
Wight, and begged of him, that if the lads must inevitably 
be killed, he might be allowed first to instruct them in the 
mysteries of the faith. The king consented, and the bishop 
having taught them the word of truth, and cleansed their 
souls by baptism, made the entrance into the kingdom of 
heaven sure to them. Then the executioner being at hand, 
they joyfully underwent the temporal death, through which 
they did not doubt they were to pass to the life of the soul 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 227 

which is everlasting. Thus, after all the provinces of the 
island of Britain had embraced the faith of Christ, the isle 
of "W^ight also received the same ; yet being mider the 
affliction of foreign subjection, no man there received the 
ministry, or rank of a bishop, before Daniel, who is now 
bishop of the West Saxons. This island is seated opposite 
to the middle part of the South Saxons and the Gevissse, 
being separated from it by a sea, three miles over, which is 
called Solvente. In this narrow sea, the two tides of the 
ocean, which flow round Britain from the immense northern 
ocean, daily meet and oppose one another beyond the 
mouth of the river Homelea, which runs into that narrow 
sea, from the lands of the Jutes, which belong to the 
country of the GevissEe ; after this meeting and struggling 
together of the two seas, they return into the ocean from 
whence they come. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

OF THE SYNOD HELD IN THE PLAIN OF HAETHFELD, WHERE 
ARCHBISHOP THEODORE PRESIDED. 

About this time, Theodore being informed that the faith 
of the chm'ch at Constantinople was much perplexed by the 
heresy of Eutyches, and desiring to preserve the churches 
of the English, over which he presided, from that infection, 
an assembly of many venerable priests and doctors was 
convened, at which he diligently inquired into their doc- 
trines, and found they all unanimously agreed in the Ca- 
tholic faith. This he took care to have committed to 
writing by the authority of the synod, as a memorial, and 
for the instruction of succeeding generations ; the beginning 
of which instrument is as follows : — 



228 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

" In the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in 
the tenth year of the reign of our most pious lord, Ecgfrid, 
king of the Northumbrians, the 15th day of the kalends of 
October, the eighth indiction ; and in the sixth year of the 
reign of Ethelfrid, king of the Mercians, in the seventeenth 
year of the reign of Aldulf, of the East Angles, in the 
seventh year of the reign of Lothair, king of Kent, Theo- 
dore, by the grace of God, archbishop of the island of 
Britain, and of the city of Canterbury, being president, and 
the other venerable bishops of the island of Britain sitting 
with him, the holy gospels being laid before them, at the 
place which, in the Saxon tongue, is called Haethfeld, we 
conferred together, and expounded the true and orthodox 
faith, as our Lord Jesus in the flesh delivered the same to his 
disciples, who saw him present, and heard his words, and 
as it is delivered in the creed of the holy fathers, and by ail 
holy and universal synods in general, and by the consent of 
all approved doctors of the Catholic church, we, therefore, 
following them jointly and orthodoxly, and professing ac- 
cordance to their divinely inspired doctrine, do believe, and 
do, according to the holy fathers, firmly confess, properly 
and truly, the Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, a trinity 
consubstantial in unity, and unity in trinity, that is, one 
God in three subsistences, or consubstantial persons, of 
equal honour and glory." And after much more of this 
sort, appertaining to the confession of the true faith, this 
holy synod added to its instrument, " We have received 
the five holy and general councils of the blessed fathers 
acceptable to God ; that is, those who were assembled at 
Nice, of 318 bishops, against the most impious Arius and 
his tenets ; and at Constantinople, of 150, against the mad- 
ness of Macedonius and Eudoxius, and their tenets ; and 
at Ephesus, first of 200, against the most wicked Nestorius, 
and his tenets ; and at Chalcedon, of 680, against Eutyches 
and Nestorius, and their tenets ; and again, at Constanti- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 229 

nople, in a fifth council, in the reign of Justinian the 
younger, against Theodorus and Theodoret, and the epistles 
of Iba, and their tenets, against Cyril ; and a short time 
after, the synod held in the city of Rome, in the time of 
the blessed Pope Martin, in the eighth indiction, and in 
the ninth year of the most pious Emperor Constantino. 
We receive and glorify our Lord Jesus Christ, as they 
glorified him, neither adding nor diminishing any thing; 
anathematizing those with our hearts and mouths whom 
they anathematized, and receiving those whom they re- 
ceived, glorifying God the Father who is without beginning^ 
and his only begotten Son generated from eternity, and the 
Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son in an 
ineffable manner, as those holy apostles, prophets, and doc- 
tors, whom we have above-mentioned, did declare. And 
all we, who, with Archbishop Theodore, expounded the 
Catholic faith, have subscribed thereto." 



CHAPTER XVni. 



OF JOHN, THE SINGER OF THE APOSTOLIC SEE, WHO CAME INTO 
BRITAIN TO TEACH. 

Among those who were present at this synod, was the 
venerable John, archchanter of the church of the holy 
Apostle Peter, and abbot of the monastery of St. Martin, 
who came lately from Rome, by order of Pope Agatho, 
together with the most reverend Abbot Bislop, surnamed 
Benedict, of whom mention has been made above, and this 
John, with the rest, signed the declaration of the Catholic 
faith. For the said Benedict, having built a monastery in 
Britain, in honour of the most blessed prince of the apostles, 
at the mouth of the river Wire, went to Rome with Ceol- 
frid, his companion and fellow-labourer in that work, who 



230 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

was after him abbot of the same monastery ; he had been 
several times before at Rome, and was now honourably 
received by Pope Agatho of blessed memory ; from whom 
he also obtained the confirmation of the immunities of this 
monastery, being a bull of privilege signed by apostolical 
authority, pursuant to what he knew to be the will and 
grant of King Ecgfrid, by whose consent and gift of land 
he had built that monastery. He then received the afore- 
said Abbot John to be conducted into Britain, that he 
might teach in his monastery the method of singing 
throughout the year, as it was practised at St. Peter's at 
Rome. The Abbot John did as he had been commanded 
by the pope, teaching the singers of the said monastery the 
order and manner of singing and reading aloud, and com- 
mitting to writing all that was requisite throughout the 
whole course of the year for the celebration of festivals ; all 
which are still observed in that monastery, and have been 
copied by many others elsewhere. The said John not only 
taught the brothers of that monastery ; but such as had skill 
in singing resorted from almost all the monasteries of the 
same province to hear him ; and many invited him to teach 
in other places. Besides the matter of singing and read- 
ing, he had also been directed by the pope, carefully to 
inform himself concerning the faith of the English church, 
and to give an account thereof at his return to Rome. For 
he also brought with him the decision of the synod of the 
blessed Pope Martin and 105 bishops, held not long before 
at Rome, principally against those who taught but one will 
and operation in Christ, and gave it to be transcribed in 
the aforesaid monastery of the most religious Abbot Bene- 
dict. The men who followed such opinion, much perplexed 
the faith of the church of Constantinople at that time ; but 
by the help of God they were then discovered and subdued. 
Wherefore, Pope Agatho, being desirous to be informed 
concerning the state of the church in Britain, as well as in 
other provinces, and to what extent it was clear from the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 231 

contagion of heretics, he gave this affair in charge to the 
most reverend Abbot John, then appointed to go to 
Britain. The synod we have spoken of having been called 
for this purpose in Britain, the Catholic faith was found 
untainted in them all ; and a copy of the same given him 
to carry to Rome. But in his return to his own country, 
soon after crossing the sea, he fell sick and died ; and his 
body, for the sake of St. Martin, in whose monastery he 
presided, was by his friends carried to Tours, and honour- 
ably buried ; for he had been kindly entertained there 
when he went into Britain, and earnestly entreated by the 
brethren, that in his return to Rome he would take that 
road, and give them a visit. In short, he was there sup- 
plied with some to conduct him on his way, and assist him 
in the work enjoined him. Though he died by the way, yet 
the testimony of the faith of the English nation was carried 
to Rome, and most agreeably received by the apostolic 
pope, and all those that heard or read it. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

HOW QUEEN ETHELDRID ALWAYS PRESERVED HER VIRGINITY, AND 
HER BODY SUFFERED NO CORRUPTION IN THE GRAVE. 

King Ecgfrid took to wife Etheldrid, the daughter of 
Anna, king of the East Angles, of whom mention has 
been often made ; a man very religious, and in all respects 
renowned for his inward disposition and actions. She had 
before been given in marriage to another, viz. to Tondberht, 
chief of the Southern Girvij ; but he died soon after he had 
received her, and she was given to the aforesaid king. 
Though she lived with him twelve years, yet she preserved 
the glory of perfect virginity, as I was informed by Bishop 
Wilfrid, of blessed memory, of whom I inquired, because 



232 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

some questioned the truth thereof; and he told me that 
he was an undoubted witness of her virginity, forasmuch 
as Ecgfrid promised he would give many lands and much 
money, if he could persuade the queen to consent to pay 
the marriage duty, for he knew the queen loved no man 
so much as himself; and it is not to be doubted that the 
same might in one instance take place in our age, which 
true histories tell us happened several times in former 
ages, through the assistance of the same Lord who has 
promised to continue with us unto the end of the world ; 
for the miraculous circumstance that her flesh, being bu- 
ried, could not suffer corruption, is a token that she had 
not been defiled by familiarity with man. She had long 
requested the king, that he would permit her to lay aside 
worldly cares, and to serve only the true King, Christ, in 
a monastery ; and having at length with difficulty prevailed, 
she went as a nun into the monastery of the Abbess Ebba, 
who was aunt to King Ecgfrid, at the place called the City 
Coludi, having taken the veil from the hands of the afore- 
said Bishop Wilfrid ; but a year after she was herself made 
abbess in the country called Ely, where, having built a 
monastery, she began, by works and examples of a heavenly 
life, to be the virgin mother of very many virgins dedicated 
to God. It is reported of her, that from the time of her 
entering into the monastery, she never wore any linen but 
only woollen garments, and would rarely wash in any hot 
bath, unless just before any of the great festivals, as Eas- 
ter, Whitsuntide, and the Epiphany, and then she did it 
last of all, after having, with the assistance of those about 
her, first washed the other servants of God there present ; 
besides, she seldom did eat above once a day, excepting on 
the great solemnities, or some other urgent occasion, unless 
some considerable distemper obliged her. From the time 
of matins she continued in the church at prayer till it 
was day ; some also say, that by the spirit of prophecy, 
she, in the presence of all, not only foretold the pesti- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 233 

lence of which she was to die, but also the number of those 
that should be then snatched away out of her monastery. 
She was taken to our Lord, in the midst of her flock, 
seven years after she had been made abbess ; and, as she 
had ordered, was buried among them, in such manner as 
she had died, in a wooden coffin. She was succeeded in 
the office of abbess by her sister Sexburga, who had been 
wife to Erconbercht, king of Kent ; who, when her sister 
had been buried sixteen years, thought fit to take up her 
bones, and putting them into a new coffin, to translate 
them into the church. Accordingly she ordered some of 
the brothers to provide a stone to make a coffin of; they 
accordingly went on board ship, because the country of Ely 
is on every side encompassed with the sea or marshes, and 
has no large stones, and came to a small abandoned city, 
not far from thence, which, in the language of the English, 
is called Grantecester, and presently, near the city walls, 
they found a white marble coffin, most beautifully \vrought, 
and neatly covered wdth a lid of the same sort of stone. 
Concluding therefore that God had prospered their journey, 
they returned thanks to him, and carried it to the monas- 
tery ; and the body of the holy virgin and spouse of Christ, 
when her grave was opened, being brought into sight, it 
was found as free from corruption as if she had died and 
been buried on that very day ; as the aforesaid Bishop 
Wilfrid, and many others that know it, can testify. But 
the physician, Cinfrid, who was present at her death, and 
when she was taken up out of the grave, was wont of more 
certain knowledge to relate, that in her sickness she had a 
very great swelling under her jaw. " And I was ordered," 
said he, " to lay open that swelling, to let out the noxious 
matter in it, which I did, and she seemed to be somewhat 
more easy for two days, so that many thought she might 
recover from her distemper ; but the third day the former 
pains returning, she was soon snatched out of the world, 
and exchanged all pam and death for everlasting life and 



234 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

health. And when so many years after her bones were to 
be taken out of the grave, a paviHon bemg spread over it, 
all the congregation of brothers were on the one side and 
of sisters on the other, standing about it singing, and the 
abbess, with a few, being gone to take up and wash the 
bones, on a sudden we heard the abbess within loudly cry 
out, * Glory be to the name of the Lord.' Not long after 
they called me in, opening the door of the pavilion, where 
I found the body of the holy virgin taken out of the grave 
and laid on a bed, as if it had been asleep ; then taking off 
the veil from the face, they also showed the incision which 
I had made, healed up ; so that, to my great astonishment, 
instead of the open gaping wound with which she had been 
buried, there then appeared only an extraordinarily slender 
scar : besides, all the linen cloths in which the body had 
been buried, appeared entire and as fresh as if they had 
been that very day wrapped about her chaste limbs." It is 
reported, that when she was much troubled with the afore- 
said swelling and pain in her jaw, she was much pleased 
with that sort of distemper, and wont to say, " I know that 
I deservedly bear the weight of my sickness on my neck, 
on which, I remember, when I was very young, I bore the 
needless weight of jewels ; and therefore I believe the 
Divine goodness would have me endure the pain in my 
neck, that I may be absolved from the guilt of my needless 
levity, having now, instead of gold and precious stones, a 
red swelhng and burning on my neck." It happened also 
that by the touch of that linen, devils were expelled from 
bodies possessed, and other distempers were sometimes 
cured ; and the coffin she was first buried in is reported to 
have cured some of distempers in the eyes, who, praying 
with their heads touching that coffin, presently were de- 
livered from the pain or dimness in their eyes. They washed 
the virgin's body, and having clothed it in new garments, 
brought it into the church, and laid it in the coffin that had 
been brought, where it is held in great veneration to this 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 235 

day. The coffin was found in a wonderful manner, as fit for 
the virgin's body as if it had been made purposely for her, 
and the place for the head particularly cut, exactly fit for 
her head, and shaped to a nicety. Ely is in the province 
of the East Angles, a country of about six hundred families, 
in the nature of an island, enclosed, as has been said, either 
with marshes or w^aters, and therefore it has its name from 
the great plenty of eels taken in those marshes ; there the 
aforesaid servant of Christ desired to have a monastery, 
because, as we have before observed, she was descended 
from that same province of the East Angles. 



CHAPTER XX. 

AN HYMN ON THE AFORESAID HOLY VIRGIN. 

I THINK it proper to insert in this history a hymn of vir- 
ginity, which I composed in elegiac verse several years ago, 
in praise and honour of the same queen and spouse of 
Christ ; and therefore truly a queen, because the spouse of 
Christ ; and to imitate the method of the holy scripture, 
in whose history many poetical pieces are inserted which 
are kno\Mi to be composed in metre. 

Alma Deus Trinitas, qui saecula cuncta gubernas, 

Annue jam casptis, alma Deus Trinitas. 
Bella Maro resonet, nos paucis dona canamus, 

Munera nos Christi, bella Maro resonet. 
Carmina casta mihi, fcedee non raptus Helense ; 

Luxus erit lubricis, carmina casta mihi. 
Dona superna loquar, miserse non preelia Trojse, 

Terra quibus gaudet, dona superna loquar. 
En Deus altus adit venerandae Virginis alvum ! 

Liberet ut homines, en Deus altus adit ! 
Foemina Virgo parit mundi devota parentem. 

Porta Maria Dei, foemina Virgo parit. 



236 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

Gaudet arnica cohors de virgine matre tonantis, 

Virginitate micans ; gaudet arnica cohors. 
Hujus honor genuit casto de germine plures, 

Virgineos flores hujus honor genuit. 
Ignibus usta feris, Virgo non cessat Agathe, 

Eulaha et perfert, ignibus usta feris. 
Casta feras superat, mentis pro culmine Tecla, 

Eufemia sacras, casta feras superat. 
Laeta ridet gladios ferro robustior Agnes, 

Cecilia infestos Iseta ridet gladios. 
Muitus in orbe viget per sobria corda triumphos, 

Sobrietatis amor muitus in orbe viget. 
Nostra quoque egregia jam tempora virgo beavit, 

Ethildritha nitet nostra quoque egregia. 
Orta patre eximio, regali et stemmate clara, 

Nobilior domino est, orta patre eximio. 
Percipit inde decus reginse et sceptra sub astris. 

Plus super astra manens percipit inde decus. 
Quid petis alma virum sponso jam dedita summo? 

Sponsus adest Christus, quid petis alma virum? 
Regis ut aetherei Matrem jam credo sequaris, 

Tu quoque sis Mater Regis ut setherei. 
Sponsa dicata Deo bis sex regnaverat annis, 

Inque Monasterio est sponsa dicata Deo. 
Tota sacrata polo, celsis ubi floruit actis. 

Reddidit atque animam tota sacrata polo. 
Virginis alma caro est tumulata bis octo Novembres, 

Nee putet in tumulo Virginis alma caro. 
Christe! tui est operis, quia vestis in ipsa Sepulchre 

Inviolata nitet, Christe! tui est operis. 
Hydros et ater abit, sacrae pro vestis honore ; 

Morbi difFugiunt, hydros et ater abit. 
Zelus in hoste furit quondam qui vicerat Evam; 

Virgo triumph at ovans ; Zelus in hoste furit. 
Aspice nupta Deo, quae sit tibi Gloria terris. 

Quae maneat coelis, aspice nupta Deo. 
Munera laeta capis festivis fulgida taedis ; 

Ecce venit sponsus, munera leta capis. 
Et nova dulcisono modularis carmina plectro, 

Sponsa hymno exultans, et nova dulcisono. 
NuUus ab altithroni comitatu segregat agni, 

Quam affectu tulerat nullus ab altithroni. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 237 

Hail, triune power, who rulest every age. 

Assist the numbers which my pen engage ; 

Let Marc wars in loftier numbers sing, 

I sound the kindness of our heavenly King. 

Chaste is my verse, nor Helen's rape I write"; 

Light tales like these, but prove the mind as light. 

See ! from on high the God descends, confined 

In Mary's womb, to rescue lost mankind. 

Behold ! a spotless maid a God brings forth, 

A God is born, who gave e'en nature birth ! 

The virgin-choir the mother-maid resound. 

And chaste themselves, her praises shout around. 

Her bright example numerous vot'ries raise. 

Tread spotless paths, and imitate her ways. 

The blessed Agatha and Eulalia trust 

Sooner to flames, than far more dangerous lust. 

Tecla and chaste Euphemia overcame 

ITie fear of beasts to save a virgin name. 

Agnes and sweet Cecilia, joyful maids. 

Smile while the pointed sword their bolder breasts invades. 

Triumphing joy attends the peaceful soul, 

"Where heat, nor rain, nor wishes mean control. 

Thus fair Eldreda, pure from sensual crime. 

Bright shining star! arose to bless our time. 

Born of a regal race, her sire a king. 

More noble honour to her lord shall bring. 

A queen her name, her hand a sceptre rears. 

But greater glories wait above the spheres. 

What man wouldst thou desire ? See Christ is made 

Her spouse, her blessed Redeemer weds the maid. 

While you attend the heavenly Mother's train. 

Thou shalt be mother of a heavenly reign. 

Twelve years devote to God she sat a queen, 

A cloister'd nun devote to God has been. 

Noted for pious deeds, her spotless soul 

Left the vile world, and soar'd above the pole. 

Sixteen Novembers since was the blest maid 

Entomb'd, whose flesh no putrid damps invade. 

Thy grace, Christ ! for in the coffin's found 

No tainted vest wrapping the corpse around. 

The swelling dropsy, and dire atrophy, 

A pale disease from the blest vestments fly. 



238 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

Rage fires the fiend, who whilome Eve betrayed. 

While shouting angels hail the glorious maid. 

See ! wedded to her God, what joy remains. 

In earth, or heaven, see ! with her God she reigns ! 

Behold ! the spouse, the festal torches shine. 

He comes ! behold ! what joyful gifts are thine ! 

Thou a new song on the sweet harp shalt sing, 

A hymn of praise to thy celestial King. 

None from the flock of the thron'd Lamb shall move. 

Whom grateful passion bind, and heavenly love. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

BISHOP THEODORE MADE PEACE BETWEEN THE KINGS ECGFRID 
AND ETHILRED. 

In the ninth year of the reign of King Eegfrid, a great 
battle was fought between him and Ethib^ed, king of the 
Mercians, near the river Trent, and Elfwin, brother to 
King Ecgfrid, was slain, being a youth about eighteen 
years of age, and much beloved by both provinces, for 
King Ethilred had married his sister Ostrich. There was 
now reason to expect a more bloody war, and more lasting 
enmity between those kings and their fierce nations ; but 
Theodore, the bishop beloved of God, relying on the Divine 
assistance, by his wholesome admonitions extinguished the 
dangerous fire that was breaking out ; so that the kings 
and their people on both sides being appeased, no man was 
put to death, but only the usual mulct paid to the king for 
his brother that had been killed ; and this peace continued 
long after between those kings and their kingdoms. 



OF THE ENGLISPI NATION. 239 



CHAPTER XXII. 

HOW A CERTAIN CAPTIVe's CHAINS FELL OFF WHEN MASSES WERE 
SUNG FOR HIM. 

In the aforesaid battle, wherein Elfwin, the king's brother, 
was killed, a memorable fact is known to have happened, 
which I think ought not to be passed by in silence ; for the 
relation of the same will conduce to the salvation of many. 
In that battle, one Imma, a youth belonging to the king, was 
left as dead, and having lain so all that day and the next 
night among the dead bodies, at length he came to himself, 
and sitting, bound up his wounds in the best way he could. 
Then having rested a while, he stood up, and began to go 
oflP to seek some friends that might take care of him ; but 
in so doing he was discovered and taken by some of the 
enemy's army, and carried before their lord, who was an 
earl belonging to King Ethilred. Being asked by him 
who he was, and fearing to own himself a soldier, he an- 
swered, " He was a peasant, poor and married, and that 
he came to the army with others to bring provisions to the 
soldiers." The earl entertained him, and ordered his 
wounds to be dressed ; and when he began to recover, to 
prevent his escaping, he ordered him to be bound, but that 
could not be performed, for as soon as they that bound 
him were gone, his bonds were all loosened. He had a 
brother called Tunna, who was a priest and abbot of a 
monastery in the city, which from him is still called Tunna- 
cester. Hearing that his brother had been killed in the 
fight, he went to see whether he could find his body ; and 
finding another very like him in all respects, concluding it 
to be his, he carried the same to his monastery, and buried 
it honourably, and took care often to say masses for the 
absolution of his soul ; the celebration whereof occasioned 
what I have said, that none could bind him but he was 



240 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

presently loosed again. In the meantime, the earl that 
kept him, was amazed, and began to inquire why he could 
not be bound ; whether he had any spells about him, as 
are spoken of in fabulous stories. He answered, " He knew 
nothing of those contrivances ; but I have,'' said he, "a 
brother who is a priest in my country, and I know that he, 
supposing me to be killed, causes masses to be said for me ; 
and if I were now in the other life, my soul there, through 
his intercession, would be delivered from pain." Having 
continued with the earl some time, those who attentively 
observed him, by his countenance, mien, and discourse, 
took notice, that he was not of the meaner sort, as he had 
said, but of some quality. The earl then privately sending 
for him, pressed to know who he was, promising to do him 
no harm, if he would ingenuously confess his quality. 
Which when he had done, declaring that he had been the 
king's servant, the earl answered, " I perceived by your 
answers that you were no peasant. And now you deserve 
to die, because all my brothers and relations were killed in 
that fight ; yet I will not put you to death because it will 
be a breach of my promise." As soon, therefore, as he was 
recovered, he sold him at London, to one Freso, but he 
could not be bound by him the whole way as he was led 
along ; but though his enemies put several sorts of bonds 
on him, they were all loosed. The buyer, perceiving that he 
could in no way be bound, gave him leave to ransom him- 
self if he could ; for at the third hour (nine in the morn- 
ing) when the masses were wont to be said, his bonds were 
generally loosed. He, having taken an oath that he would 
either return, or send him the money for his ransom, went 
into Kent to King Lothere, who was son to the sister of 
Queen Etheldrid, above spoken of, for he had once been 
her servant. He obtained of him the price of his ransom, 
and as he had promised, sent it to his master. Returning 
afterwards into his own country, and coming to his brother, 
he gave him an exact account of all his fortunes good and 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 241 

bad ; and by his relation he understood, that his bonds had 
been generally loosed at those times when masses had been 
celebrated for him ; and that other advantages which had 
accrued to him in his time of danger, had been conferred 
on him from heaven, through the intercession of his brother, 
and the oblation of his saving sacrifice. Many persons, on 
hearing this account from the aforesaid man, were stirred 
up in the faith and devotion of piety either to prayer, or to 
alms-giving, or to offer up to our Lord the sacrifice of the 
holy oblation, for the deliverance of their friends who had 
departed this world ; for they understood and knew that 
such saving sacrifice was available for the eternal redemp- 
tion both of body and soul. This story was also told me 
by some of those who had heard it related by the person him- 
self to whom it happened ; therefore, I thought fit to insert 
it in our Ecclesiastical History as I had it fully made out 
to me. 



CHAPTER XXin. 

OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE ABBESS HILDA. 

In the year of the incarnation of our Lord 680, the most 
religious servant of Christ, Hilda, abbess of the monastery 
that is called Streaneshalh, as above-mentioned, after hav- 
ing performed many heavenly works on earth, passed from 
thence to receive the rewards of the heavenly life, on the 
15th day of the kalends of December, at the age of sixty- 
six years ; the first thirty-three of which she spent living- 
most nobly in the secular habit ; and more nobly dedicated 
the remaining half to our Lord in a monastic life. For she 
was nobly born, being the daughter of Hereric, nephew to 
King Edwin, with which king she also embraced the faith 
and mysteries of Christ, at the preaching of Paulinus, the 
first bishop of the Northumbrians, of blessed memory, and 



242 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

preserved the same undefiled till she obtained the full en- 
joyment thereof in heaven. Resolving to quit the secular 
habit, and to serve him alone, she withdrew into the pro- 
vince of the East Angles, for she was allied to the king ; 
being desirous to pass over from thence into France, to 
forsake her native country and all she had, and so live a 
stranger for our Lord in the monastery of Cale, that she 
might with more ease attain to the eternal kingdom in hea- 
ven ; because her sister Heresuit, mother to Aldulf, king of 
the East Angles, at that time living in the same monastery, 
under regular discipline, was waiting for her eternal reward. 
Being led by her example, she continued a whole year in 
the aforesaid province, with the design of going abroad ; 
afterwards, Bishop Aidan being recalled home, he gave her 
the land of one family on the north side of the river Wire ; 
where she also led a monastic life a year, with very few 
companions. After which she was made abbess in the 
monastery called Heortheu, which monastery had been 
founded, not long before, by the religious servant of Christ, 
Heru, who is said to have been the first woman that in the 
province of the Northumbrians took upon her the habit 
and life of a nun, being consecrated by Bishop Aidan ; but 
she, soon after she had founded that monastery, went away 
to the city of Kalcaceaster, and there fixed her dwelling. 
Hilda, the servant of Christ, being set over that monastery, 
began immediately to reduce all things to a regular system, 
according as she had been instructed by learned men ; for 
Bishop Aidan, and other religious men that knew her and 
loved her, frequently visited and diligently instructed her, 
because of her innate wisdom and inclination to the service 
of God. When she had for some years governed this mo- 
nastery, wholly intent upon establishing a regular life, it 
happened that she also undertook either to build or to 
arrange a monastery in the place called Streaneshalh, 
which work she industriously performed ; for she put this 
monastery under the same regular discipline as she had 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 243 

done the former; and taught there the strict observance of 
justice, piety, chastity, and other virtues, and particularly 
of peace and charity ; so that, after the example of the 
primitive church, no person was there rich, and none poor, 
all being in common to all, and none having any property. 
Her prudence was so great, that not only indifferent per- 
sons, but even kings and princes, as occasion offered, asked 
and received her advice ; she obliged those who were under 
her direction to attend so much to reading of the holy 
scriptures, and to exercise themselves so much in works of 
justice, that many might be there found fit for the ecclesi- 
astical degree, that is, to serve at the altar : in short, we 
afterwards saw five bishops taken out of that monastery, 
and all of them men of singular merit and sanctity, whose 
names were Bosa, Aetla, Oftfor, John, and Wilfrid. We 
have above taken notice, that the first of them was conse- 
crated bishop at York ; of the second, it is to be observed 
that he was appointed Bishop of Dorchester. Of the two 
last we shall speak hereafter, as they were consecrated : 
the first was Bishop of Hagulstad, the second of the church 
of York; of the third we will here take notice, that 
having applied himself to the reading and observation of 
the scriptures, in both the monasteries of Hilda, at length 
being desirous to attain to greater perfection, he went 
into Kent, to Archbishop Theodore, of blessed memory; 
where, having spent some more time in sacred studies, he 
also resolved to go to Rome, which, in those days, was 
reckoned of great moment : returning thence into Britain, 
he took his way into the province of Wiccii, where King 
Osric then ruled, and continued there a long time, preach- 
ing the word of faith, and making himself an example of 
good life to all that saw and heard him. At that time, 
Bosel, the bishop of that province, laboured under such 
weakness of body, that he could not himself perform the 
episcopal functions ; for which reason, this Oftfor was, by 
universal consent, chosen bishop in his stead, and by order 

r2 



244 THE ECCLESIASTICAL PIISTORY 

of King Ethelred, consecrated by Bishop Wilfrid, of blessed 
memory, who was then bishop of the Midland Angles, 
because Archbishop Theodore was dead, and no other 
bishop ordained in his place. Before the aforesaid man of 
God, Bosel, Tatfrith, a most learned and industrious man, 
and of excellent ability, had been chosen bishop there, 
from the same abbess's monastery, but had been snatched 
away by an untimely death, before he could be ordained. 
Thus this servant of Christ, Abbess Hilda, whom all that 
knew her called mother, for her singular piety and grace, 
was not only an example of good life to those that lived in 
her monastery, but afforded occasion of amendment and 
salvation to many who lived at a distance, to whom the 
fame was brought of her industry and virtue ; for it was 
necessary that the dream which her mother, Bregusuit, 
had, during her infancy, should be fulfilled. At the time 
that her husband, Hereric, lived in banishment, under 
Cerdic, king of the Britons, where he was also poisoned, 
she fancied, in a dream, that she was seeking for him, most 
carefully, and could find no sign of him any where; but, 
after having used all her industry to seek him, she found a 
most precious jewel under her garment, which, whilst she 
was looking on it very attentively, cast such a light as spread 
itself throughout all Britain ; which dream was brought to 
pass in her daughter that we speak of, whose life was a bright 
example, not only to herself, but to all who desired to 
live well. When she had governed this monastery many 
years, it pleased Him who has made such merciful provision 
for our salvation, to give her holy soul the trial of a long 
sickness, to the end that, according to the apostle's ex- 
ample, her virtue might be perfected in infirmity. Falling 
into a fever, she fell into a violent heat, and was afilicted 
with the same for six years continually ; during all which 
time she never failed either to return thanks to her Maker, 
or publicly and privately to instruct the flock committed to 
her charge ; for by her own example she admonished all 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 245 

pei'sons to serve God dutifully in perfect health, and always 
to return thanks to him in adversity, or bodily infirmity. 
In the seventh year of her sickness, the distemper turning 
inwards, she approached her last day, and about cock- 
crowing, having received the holy communion to further 
her on her way, and called together the servants of Christ 
that were within the same monastery, she admonished them 
to preserve evangelical peace among themselves, and with all 
others ; and as she was making her speech, she joyfully 
saw death approaching, or if I may speak in the words of 
our Lord, passed from death to life. That same night it 
pleased Almighty God, by a manifest vision, to make known 
her death in another monastery, at a distance from hers, 
which she had built that same year, and is called Hakenes. 
There was in that monastery a certain nun called Begu, 
who, having dedicated her virginity to God, had served him 
upwards of thirty years in monastical conversation. This 
nun being then in the dormitory of the sisters, on a sudden 
heard the well-known sound of a bell in the air, which used 
to awake and call them to prayers, when any one of them 
was taken out of this world, and opening her eyes, as she 
thought, she saw the top of the house open, and a strong- 
light pour in from above ; looking earnestly upon that light, 
she saw the soul of the aforesaid servant of God in that 
same light, attended and conducted to heaven by angels. 
Then awaking, and seeing the other sisters lying round 
about her, she perceived that what she had seen was either 
in a dream or a vision ; and rising immediately in a great 
fright^ she ran to the virgin who then presided in the mo- 
nastery instead of the abbess, and whose name was Frigyth, 
and with many tears and sighs, told her that the Abbess 
Hilda, mother of them all, had departed this life, and had 
in her sight ascended to eternal bliss, and to the company 
of the inhabitants of heaven, with a great light, and with 
angels conducting her. Frigyth having heard it, awoke all 
the sisters, and calling them to the church, admonished 



246 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

them to pray and sing psalms for her soul ; which they did 
during the remainder of the night; and at break of day, 
the brothers came with news of her death, from the place 
where she had died. They answered that they knew it 
before, and then related how and when they had heard it, 
by which it appeared that her death had been revealed to 
them in a vision the very same hour that the others said 
she had died. Thus it was by heaven happily ordained, 
that when some saw her departure out of this world, the 
others should be acquainted with her admittance into the 
spiritual life which is eternal. These monasteries are 
about thirteen miles distant from each other. It is also 
reported, that her death was, in a vision, made known to 
one of the holy virgins who loved her most passionately, in 
the same monastery where the said servant of God died. 
This nun saw her soul ascend to heaven in the company of 
angels ; and this she declared, the very same hour that it 
happened, to those servants of Christ that were with her ; 
and awakened them to pray for her soul, even before the 
rest of the congregation had heard of her death. The 
truth of which was known to the whole monastery in the 
morning. This same nun was at that time with some 
other servant of Christ, in the remotest part of the monas- 
tery, where the women newly converted were wont to be 
upon trial, till they were regularly instructed, and taken 
into the society of the congregation. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THERE WAS IN THE SAID ABBESs's MONASTERY A BROTHER, ON 
WHOM THE GIFT OF WRITING VERSES WAS BESTOWED BY 
HEAVEN. 

There was in this abbess's monastery a certain brother, 
particularly remarkable for the grace of God, who was 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 247 

wont to make pious and religious verses, so that whatever 
was interpreted to him out of scripture, he soon after put 
the same into poetical expressions of much sweetness and 
humility, in English, which was his native language. By 
his verses the minds of many were often excited to despise 
the world, and to aspire to heaven. Others after him 
attempted, in the English nation, to compose religious 
poems, but none could ever compare with him, for he did 
not learn the art of poetry from men, but from God ; for 
which reason he never could compose any trivial or vain 
poem, but only those which relate to religion suited his 
religious tongue ; for having lived in a secular habit till he 
was well advanced in years, he had never learned any thing 
of versifying; for which reason being sometimes at enter- 
tainments, when it was agreed for the sake of mirth that 
all present should sing in their turns, when he saw the 
instrument come towards him, he rose up from table 
and returned home. Having done so at a certain time, 
and gone out of the house where the entertainment was, to 
the stable, where he had to take care of the horses that 
night, he there composed himself to rest at the proper 
time; a person appeared to him in his sleep, and saluting 
him by his name, said, " Cedmon, sing some song to me." 
He answered, " I cannot sing ; for that was the reason why 
I left the entertainment, and retired to this place, because 
I could not sing." The other who talked to him, replied, 
" However you shall sing." " What shall I sing?" rejoined 
he. " Sing the beginning of created beings," said the other. 
Hereupon he presently began to sing verses to the praise 
of God, which he had never heard, the purport whereof was 
thus : — We are now to praise the Maker of the heavenly 
kingdom, the power of the Creator and his counsel, the 
deeds of the Father of glory. How he, being the eternal 
God, became the author of all miracles, who first, as 
almighty preserver of the human race, created heaven for 
the sons of men as the roof of the house, and next the 



248 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

earth. This is the sense, but not the wo^ds in order as 
he sang them in his sleep ; for verses, though never so well 
composed, cannot be literally translated out of one lan- 
guage into another, without losing much of their beauty 
and loftiness. Awaking from his sleep, he remembered all 
that he had sung in his dream, and soon added much more 
to the same effect in verse worthy of the Deity. In the 
morning he came to the steward, his superior ; he ac- 
quainted him with the gift he had received; and being 
conducted to the abbess, he was ordered, in the presence of 
many learned men, to tell his dream, and repeat the verses, 
that they might give all their juj^ment what it was, and 
whence his verse proceeded. They all concluded, that 
heavenly grace had been conferred on him by our Lord. 
They expounded to him a passage in holy writ, either his- 
torical, or doctrinal, ordering him, if he could, to put the 
same into verse. Having undertaken it, he went away, and 
returning the next morning, gave it to them composed in 
most excellent verse; whereupon the abbess, embracing 
the grace of God in the man, instructed him to quit the 
secular habit, and take upon him the monastic life ; which 
being accordingly done, she associated him to the rest of 
the brethren in her monastery, and ordered that he should 
be taught the whole series of sacred history. Thus 
Cedmon, keeping in mind all he heard, and as it were 
chewing the cud, converted the same into most harmonious 
verse ; and sweetly repeating the same, made his masters 
in their turn his hearers. He sang the creation of the 
world, the origin of man, and all the history of Genesis ; 
and made many verses on the departure of the children of 
Israel out of Egypt, and their entering into the land of 
promise, with many other histories from holy writ ; the incar- 
nation, passion, resurrection of our Lord, and his ascension 
into heaven ; the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the 
preaching of the apostles ; also the terror of future judg- 
ment, the horror of the pains of hell, and the delights of 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 249 

heaven ; besides many more about the Divine benefits and 
judgments, by which he endeavoured to turn away all men 
from the love of vice, and to excite in them the love of, and 
application to, good actions; for he was a very religious 
man, and humbly submissive to regular discipline, but full 
of zeal against those who behaved themselves otherwise ; 
for which reason he ended his life happily. For when the 
time of his departure drew near, he laboured for the space 
of fourteen days under a bodily infirmity which seemed to 
prepare the way, yet so moderate that he could talk and 
walk the whole time. In his neighbourhood was the house 
to which those that were sick, and like shortly to die, were 
carried. He desired the person that attended him, in the 
evening, as the night came on in which he was to depart 
this life, to make ready a place there for him to take his 
rest. This person, wondering why he should desire it, be- 
cause there was as yet no sign of his dying soon, did what 
he had ordered. He accordingly went there, and convers- 
ing pleasantly in a joyful manner with the rest that were 
in the house before, when it was past midnight, he asked 
them, whether they had the Eucharist there? They 
answered, " What need of the Eucharist I for you are not 
likely to die, since you talk so merrily with us, as if you 
were in perfect health." " However," said he, " bring me 
the Eucharist." Having received the same into his hand, 
he asked, whether they were all in charity with him, and 
without any enmity or rancour? They answered, that 
they were all in perfect charity, and free from anger; 
and in their turn asked him, whether he was in the same 
mind towards them? He answered, *' T am in charity, my 
children, with all the servants of God." Then strengthen- 
ing himself with the heavenly viaticum, he prepared for the 
entrance into another life, and asked, how near the time 
was when the brothers were to be awakened to sing the noc- 
turnal praises of our Lord ? They answered, " It is not 
far off." Then he said, "Well, let us wait that hour;" 



250 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

and signing himself with the sign of the cross, he laid his 
head on the pillow, and falling into a slumber, ended his life 
so in silence. Thus it came to pass, that as he had served 
God with a simple and pure mind, and undisturbed devotion, 
so he now departed to his presence, leaving the world by a 
quiet death; and that tongue, which had composed so 
many holy words in praise of the Creator, uttered its last 
words whilst he was in the act of signing himself with the 
cross, and recommending himself into his hands, and by 
what has been here said, he seems to have had foreknow- 
ledge of his death. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

OF THE VISION THAT APPEARED TO A CERTAIN MAN OF GOD BEFORE 
THE MONASTERY OF THE CITY COLUDI WAS BURNED DOAVN. 

At this time, the monastery of virgins, called the city of 
Coludi, above-mentioned, was burned down, through careless- 
ness ; and yet all that knew the same, might observe that 
it happened through the malice of those who dwelt in it, 
and chiefly of those who seemed to be the greatest. But 
there wanted not a w^arning of the approaching punishment 
from the Divine goodness, by which they might have stood 
corrected, and by fasting, prayers, and tears, like the Nine- 
vites, have averted the anger of the just Judge. There was 
in that monastery a man of the Scottish race, called Ada- 
mannus, leading a life entirely devoted to God in continence 
and prayer, insomuch that he never took any food or drink, 
except only on Sundays and Thursdays; but often spent 
whole nights in prayer. This austerity of life he had first 
adopted from necessity to correct his evil propensities ; but 
in process of time the necessity became a custom. ' For in 
his youth he had been guilty of some wicked action, for 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 251 

which, when he came to himself, he conceived extraordinary 
horror, and dreaded lest he should be punished for the 
same by the upright Judge. Repairing, therefore, to a 
priest, who he hoped might show him the way of salvation, 
he confessed his guilt, and desired to be advised how he 
might avoid the future ^^Tath of God. The priest having 
heard his offence, said, " A great sore requires much atten- 
tion in the cure ; and, therefore, give yourself up as far as 
you are able to fasting, reading of psalms, and prayer, to 
the end, that thus preventing the wrath of our Lord, in 
confession, you may find him merciful." Being highly 
affected with the grief of a guilty conscience, and desiring, 
as soon as possible, to be loosed from the inward fetters of 
sin, which lay heavy upon him, he answered, " I am young 
in years, and strong of body, and shall, therefore, easily 
bear with whatsoever you shall enjoin me to do, so that I 
may be saved in the day of our Lord ; though you should 
command me to spend the whole night in prayer standing, 
and to pass the whole week in abstinence." The priest 
replied, "It is too much for you to hold out the whole 
week without bodily sustenance ; but it is sufficient to fast 
two or three days : do this till I come again to you in a 
short time, when I will more fully show you what you are 
to do, and how long to continue your penance.'* Having so 
said, and prescribed the measure of his penance, the priest 
went away, and upon some sudden occasion passed over 
into Ireland, whence he derived his origin, and returned no 
more to him, as he had appointed. Remembering this in- 
junction and his o^vn promise, he totally addicted himself 
to tears, penance, holy watching, and continence ; so that 
he only fed on Thursdays and Sundays, as has been said ; 
and ate nothing all the other days of the week. When he 
heard that his priest was gone to Ireland, and had died 
there, he ever after observed that same abstinence, accord- 
ing to his direction; and as he had begun that course 
through the fear of God, in penitence for his guilt, so he 



252 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

still continued the same unremittingly for the Divine love, 
and in hope of his reward. Having practised this carefully 
for a long time, it happened that he had gone on a certain 
day to a distance from the monastery, accompanied by 
one of the brothers ; and as they were returning from this 
journey, when they drew near to the monastery, and beheld 
its lofty buildings, the man of God burst out into tears, and 
his countenance discovered the trouble of his heart. His 
companion, perceiving it, asked what was the reason, to 
which he answered : ' ' The time is at hand, when a devour- 
ing fire shall consume all these structures you behold, both 
public and private."" The other, hearing these words, as 
soon as they came into the monastery, told them to Ebba, 
the mother of the congregation. She, with good cause, 
being much concerned at that prediction, called the man to 
her, and narrowly inquired of him how he came to know it. 
He answered, " Being busy one night lately in watching and 
singing psalms, I on a sudden saw a person unknown standing 
by me, and being startled at his presence, he bid me not to 
fear, and speaking to me in a familiar manner, ' You do 
well,' said he, 'in that you spend this night-time of rest, 
not in giving yourself up to sleep, but in watching and 
prayer.' I answered, ' I know I have great need of whole- 
some watching, and earnest praying to our Lord to pardon 
my transgressions.' He replied, ' You are in the right, for 
you and many more do need to redeem their sins by good 
works, and when they cease from labouring about temporal 
affairs, then to labour the more eagerly for the desire of 
heavenly goods ; but this very few do ; for I, having now 
visited all this monastery regularly, have looked into every 
one's chambers and beds, and found none of them all besides 
yourself busy about the care of his soul ; but all of them, 
both men and women, either indulge themselves in slothful 
sleep, or are awake in order to commit sin; for even the 
little houses that were built for praying or reading, are now 
converted into places of feasting, drinking, talking, and 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. - 253 

other delights : the very virgins dedicated to God, laying 
aside the respect due to their profession, whensoever they 
are at leisure, apply themselves to weaving fine garments, 
either to use in adorning themselves like brides, to the 
danger of their condition, or to gain the friendship of 
strange men ; for which reason, a heavy judgment from 
heaven is deservedly ready to fall on this place and its in- 
habitants by devouring fire.'" The abbess said, " Why did 
you not sooner acquaint me with what you knew V He 
answered, " I was afraid to do it, out of respect to you, lest 
you should be too much afflicted ; yet you may have this 
comfort, that the calamity will not happen in your days." 
This vision being divulged abroad, the inhabitants of that 
place were for a few days in some little fear, and leaving off 
their sins, began to punish themselves ; but after the abbess's 
death, they returned to their former wickedness, nay, they 
became more wicked ; and when they thought themselves 
in peace and security, they soon felt the effects of the 
aforesaid judgment. / That all this fell out thus, was told 
me by my most reverend fellow-priest, Edgils, who then 
lived in that monastery. Afterwards, when many of the 
inhabitants had departed thence, on accomit of the de- 
struction, he lived a long time in our monastery, and died 
there. We have thought fit to insert this in our history, 
to admonish the reader of the works of our Lord, how 
terrible he is in his counsels on the sons of men, lest we 
should at some time or other indulge in the pleasures of 
the flesh, and dreading the judgment of God too little, fall 
under his sudden ^vrath, and either be severely afflicted 
with temporal losses, or else being more severely tried, be 
snatched away to eternal perdition. 



254 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

OF THE DEATH OF THE KINGS ECGFRID AND LOTHERE. 

In the year of our Lord's incarnation 684, Ecgfrid, king 
of the Northumbrians, sending Beorht, his general, with an 
army, into Ireland, miserably wasted that harmless nation, 
which had always been most friendly to the English ; inso- 
much that in their hostile rage, they spared not even the 
churches or monasteries. Those islanders, to the utmost 
of their power, repelled force with force, and imploring the 
assistance of the Divine mercy, prayed long and fervently 
for vengeance ; and though such as curse cannot possess 
the kingdom of God, it is believed, that those who were 
justly cursed on account of their impiety, did soon suffer 
the penalty of their guilt from the avenging hand of God ; 
for the very next year, that same king, rashly leading his 
army to ravage the province of the Picts, much against the 
advice of his friends, and particularly of Guthbert, of 
blessed memory, who had been lately ordained bishop, the 
enemy made show as if they fled, and the king was drawn 
into the straits of inaccessible mountains, and slain, with 
the greatest part of his forces, on the 13th of the kalends 
of June, in the fortieth year of his age, and the fifteenth 
of his reign. His friends, as has been said, advised him 
not to engage in this war ; but he having the year before 
refused to listen to the most reverend father, Egbercht, ad- 
vising him not to attack the Scots, who did him no harm, 
it was laid upon him as a punishment for his sin, that he 
should not now regard those who would have prevented his 
death. From that time the hopes and strength of the 
English crown began to waver, and retrograde ; for the 
Picts recovered their own lands, which had been held by 
the English and the Scots that were in Britain, and some 
of the Britons their liberty, which they have now enjoyed 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 255 

for about forty-six years. Among the many English that 
then either fell by the sword, or were made slaves, or 
escaped by flight out of the country of the Picts, the most 
reverend man of God, Trumwin, who had been made 
bishop over them, withdrew with his people that were in 
the monastery of Ebbercurnig, seated in the country of the 
English, but close by the arm of the sea, which parts the 
lands of the English and the Scots. Having recommended 
his followers, wheresoever he could, to his friends in the 
monasteries, he chose his own place of residence in the mo- 
nastery, which we have so often mentioned, of men and 
women servants of God, at Streaneshalh ; and there he, 
for several years, led a life in all monastical austerity, not 
only to his own, but to the benefit of many, with a few of his 
own people ; and dying there, he was buried in the church 
of St. Peter the Apostle, with the honour due to his life 
and rank. The royal virgin, Elfled, with the mother, 
Eanfled, above-mentioned, then presided over that monas- 
tery; but when the bishop came thither, this devout woman 
found in him extraordinary assistance in governing, and 
comfort to herself. Aldfrid succeeded Ecgfrid in the throne, 
being a man most learned in scripture, said to be brother 
to the other, and son to King Oswin : he nobly retrieved 
the ruined state of the kingdom, though within narrower 
bounds. The same year, being the 685th from the incar- 
nation of our Lord, Lothere, king of Kent, died on the 
8th of the ides of February, when he had reigned twelve 
years after his brother Egbercht, who had reigned nine 
years: he was w^ounded in battle with the South Saxons, 
whom Edric, the son of Egbercht, had raised against him, 
and died whilst his wound was being dressed. After him, 
the same Edric reigned a year and a half. On his death, 
kings of doubtful title, or foreigners, for some time wasted 
the kingdom, till the lawful king, Wichtred, the son of 
Egbercht, being settled in the throne, by his piety and 
zeal, delivered his nation from foreign invasion. 



256 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

CUTHBERT, A MAN OF GOD, IS MADE BISHOP ; AND HOW HE LIVES 
AND TEACHES WHILST STILL IN A MONASTIC LIFE. 

The same year that King Ecgfrid departed this life, he 
(as has been said) promoted to the bishopric of the church 
of Lindisfarne, the holy and venerable Cuthbert, who had 
for many years led a solitary life, in great continence of 
body and mind, in a very small island, called Fame, distant 
almost nine miles from that same church in the ocean. 
From his very childhood he had always been inflamed with 
the desire of a religious life ; but he took upon him the 
habit and name of a monk when he was a young man : he 
first entered into the monastery of Mailros, which is on 
the bank of the river Twede, and was then governed by the 
Abbot Eata, a meek and simple man, who was afterwards 
made bishop of the church of Hagulstad or Lindisfarne, as 
has been said above, over which monastery at that time 
was placed Boisil, a priest of great virtue and of a pro- 
phetic spirit. Cuthbert, humbly submitting himself to this 
man's direction, from him received both the knowledge of 
the holy scriptures, and example of good works. After he 
had departed to our Lord, Cuthbert was placed over that 
monastery, where he instructed many in regular life, both 
by the authority of a master, and the example of his own 
behaviour. Nor did he afford admonitions and an example 
of a regular life to his monastery alone, but endeavoured to 
convert the people round about far and near from the life 
of foolish custom, to the love of heavenly joys ; for many 
profaned the faith which they had received by their wicked 
actions ; and some also, in the time of a mortality, neglect- 
ing the sacraments of faith which they had received, had 
recourse to the false remedies of idolatry, as if they could 
have put a stop to the plague sent from God, by enchant- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 257 

ments, spells, or other secrets of the hellish art. In order 
to correct the error of both sorts, he often went out of the 
monastery, sometimes on horseback, but oftener on foot, 
repaired to the neighbouring towns, and preached the way 
of truth to such as were gone astray ; which had been also 
done by Boisil in his time. It was then the custom of the 
English people, that when a clerk or priest came into the 
town, they all, at his command, flocked together to hear 
the word; willingly heard what was said, and more wil- 
lingly practised those things that they could hear or under- 
stand. X But Cuthbert was so skilful an orator, so fond was 
he of persuading what he taught, and such a brightness 
appeared in his angelic face, that no man present presumed 
to conceal from him the most hidden secrets of his heart, 
but all openly confessed what they had done ; because they 
thought the same could^not be concealed from him, and 
wiped off the guilt of ^vhat they had so confessed with 
worthy fruits of penance, as he commanded. He was wont 
chiefly to resort to those places, and preach in such villages, 
- as being seated high up amid craggy uncouth mountains," 
were frightful to others to behold, and whose poverty and 
barbarity rendered them inaccessible to other teachers ; 
which nevertheless he, having entirely devoted himself to 
that pious labour, did so industriously apply himself to 
pohsh with his doctrine, that when he departed out of his 
monastery, he would often stay a week, sometimes two or 
three, and sometimes a whole month, before he returned 
home, continuing among the mountains to allure that rustic 
people by his preaching and example to heavenly employ- 
ments. This venerable servant of our Lord, having thus 
spent many years in the monastery of Mailros, and there 
become conspicuous by many miracles, his most reverend 
abbot, Eata, removed him to the isle of Lindisfarne, that he 
might there also, by the authority of a superior and his own 
example, instruct the brethren in the observance of regular 
discipline ; for the same reverend father then governed that 



258 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

place also as abbot ; for from ancient times, the bishop was 
wont to reside there with his clergy, and the abbot with his 
monks, who were likewise under the care of the bishop ; 
because Aidan, who was the first bishop of the place, being 
himself a monk, brought monks thither, and settled the 
monastic institution there ; as the blessed Father Augus- 
tine is known to have done before in Kent, the most re- 
verend Pope Gregory writing to him, as has been said 
above, to this effect : — " But since, my brother, having 
been instructed in monastic rules, you must not live apart 
from your clergy in the church of the English, which has 
been lately, through the help of God, converted to the 
faith ; you must, therefore, establish that course of life, 
which was among our ancestors in the primitive church, 
among whom, none called any thing that he possessed his 
own ; but all things were in common to them." 



CHAPTER XXVIII. ^ 

THE SAME ST. CUTHBERT, BEING AN ANCHORITE, BY HIS PRAYERS 
OBTAINED A SPRING IN A DRY SOIL, AND HAD A CROP FROM 
SEED SOWN BY HIMSELF OUT OF SEASON. 

CuTHBERT, afterwards advancing in his meritorious and 
devout intentions, proceeded even to the observance of 
silence according to the hermit's life. But forasmuch as 
we several years ago wrote enough of his life and virtues, 
both in heroic verse and prose, it may suffice at present 
only to mention this, that when he was about to repair to 
the island, he made this protestation to the brothers, say- 
ing, " If it shall please the Divine goodness to grant me, 
that I may live in that place by the labour of my hands, I 
will willingly reside there ; but if not, I will, by God's per- 
mission^ very soon return to you." The place was quite 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 259 

destitute of water, corn, and trees ; and being infested by- 
evil spirits, very inconvenient for human habitation ; but it 
became in all respects habitable, at the desire of the man 
of God ; for upon his arrival, the wicked spirits withdrew. 
' When he had there, after expelling the enemies, with the 
assistance of the brethren, built himself a small dwelling, 
with a trench about it, and the necessary cells, and an 
oratory, he ordered the brothers to dig a pit in the floor of 
the dwelling, although the ground was hard and stony, and 
no hopes appeared of any spring. Having done this upon 
the faith and at the request of the servant of God, the next 
day it appeared full of water, and to this day affords plenty 
of its heavenly bounty to all that resort thither. He also 
desired that all instruments for husbandry might be brought 
him, and some wheat ; and having sown the same at the 
proper season, neither stalk, nor so much as a leaf sprouted 
from it by the next summer. Hereupon the brethren visit- 
ing him according to custom, he ordered barley to be 
brought him, in case it were either the nature of the soil, 
or the Divine will, that such grain should rather grow 
there. Having sowed that in the same field as it was 
brought him, after the proper time of sowing, and conse- 
quently without any likelihood of its coming to good, a 
plentiful crop immediately coming up, afforded the man of 
God the means which he had so ardently desired of sup- 
porting himself by his own labour ; when he had there 
served God in solitude many years, the mound which en- 
compassed his habitation being so high, that he could from 
thence see nothing but heaven, to which he so ardently 
aspired, it happened that a great synod being assembled in 
the presence of King Ecgfrid, near the river Alne, at a 
place called Adtwiford, which signifies " at the two fords,"' 
in which Archbishop Theodore, of blessed memory, pre- 
sided, Cuthbert was, by the unanimous consent of all, 
chosen bishop of the church of Lindisfarne. They could 
not however persuade him to leave his monastery, though 

s2 



260 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

many messengers and letters were sent to him ; at last the 
aforesaid king himself, with the most holy Bishop Trumwin, 
and other religious and great men, passed over into the 
island ; many also of the brothers of the same isle of Lin- 
disfarne assembled together for the same purpose : they 
all knelt, conjured him by our Lord, and with tears and 
entreaties, till they drew him, also in tears, from his re- 
treat, and forced him to the synod. Being arrived there, 
after much opposition, he was overcome by the unanimous 
resolution of all present, and submitted to take upon him- 
self the episcopal dignity ; being chiefly prevailed upon, by 
the mention that Boisil, the servant of God, when he had 
prophetically foretold all things that were to befall him, 
had also predicted that he should be a bishop. However, the 
consecration was not appointed immediately ; but after the 
winter, which Vvas then at hand, it was performed at Easter, 
in the city of York, and in the presence of the afore- 
said King Ecgfrid ; seven bishops meeting on the occasion, 
among whom, Theodore, of blessed memory, was primate. 
He was first elected bishop of the church of Hagulstad, in 
the place of Tunberht, who had been deposed from the 
episcopal dignity ; but in regard that he chose rather to be 
placed over the church of Lindisfarne, in which he had lived, 
it was thought fit that Eata should return to the see of the 
church of Hagulstad, to which he had been first ordained, 
and that Cuthbert should take upon him the government 
of the church of Lindisfarne. Following the example of the 
apostles, he became an ornament to the episcopal dignity, 
by his virtuous actions ; for he both protected the people 
committed to his charge, by constant prayer, and excited 
them, by most wholesome admonitions, to heavenly prac- 
tices ; and, which is the greatest help in teachers, he first 
showed in his behaviour what he taught was to be per- 
formed by others ; for he was much inflamed with the fire 
of Divine charity, modest in the virtue of patience, most 
diligently intent on devout prayers, and afiable to all that 



.OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 261 

came to him for comfort. He thought it equivalent to 
praying, to afford the infirm brethren the help of his ex- 
hortations, well knowing that he who said, " Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God," said likewise, " Thou shalt love thy 
neighbour as thyself." He was also remarkable for peni- 
tential abstinence, and always intent upon heavenly things, 
through the grace of humility : lastly, when he offered up 
to God the sacrifice of the saving victim, he recommended 
his prayer to God, not with a loud voice, but with tears 
drawn from the bottom of his heart. Having spent two 
years in his bishopric, he returned to his island and monas- 
tery, being advertised by a Divine oracle, that the day of 
his death, or rather of his life, was drawing near ; as he, 
at that time, with his usual simplicity, signified to some 
persons, though in terms which were somewhat obscure, 
but which were nevertheless afterwards plainly understood ; 
but to others he also declared the same openly. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

ST. CUTHBERT FORETOLD TO THE ANCHORITE, HEREBERHT, THAT 
HIS DEATH WAS AT HAND. 

There was a certain priest, venerable for the probity of 
his life and manners, called Hereberht, who had long been 
united with the man of God (Cuthbert), in the bonds of 
spiritual friendship. This man leading a solitary life in the 
island of that great lake from which the river Derwent 
flows, was wont to visit him every year, and to receive from 
him spiritual advice. Hearing that Bishop Cuthbert was 
come to the city of Carlisle, he repaired thither to him, 
according to custom, being desirous to be still more and 
more inflamed in heavenly desires through his wholesome 
admonitions; whilst they alternately entertained one an- 



262 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

other with the delights of the celestial life, the bishop, among 
other things, said, " Brother Hereberht, remember at this 
time to ask me all the questions you wish to have resolved, 
and say all you design ; for we shall see one another no 
more in this world. For I am sure that the time of my 
dissolution is at hand, and I shall speedily put off this 
tabernacle of the flesh." Hearing these words, he fell 
down at his feet, and shedding tears, v^dth a sigh, said, " I 
beseech you by our Lord, not to forsake me ; but that you 
remember your most faithful companion, and entreat the 
Supreme Goodness that, as we served him together upon 
earth, we may depart together to see his bliss in heaven. 
For you know that I have always endeavoured to live ac- 
cording to your directions, and whatsoever faults I have 
committed, either through ignorance or frailty, I have 
instantly submitted to correction according to your will." 
The bishop applied himself to prayer, and having presently 
had intimation in the spirit that he had obtained what he 
asked of the Lord, he said, " Rise, brother, and do not 
weep, but rejoice, because the Heavenly Goodness has 
granted what we desired.^' The event proved the truth of 
this promise and prophecy, for after their parting at that 
time, they no more saw one another corporeally ; but their 
souls quitting their bodies on the very same day, that is, 
on the 18th day of the kalends of April, they were imme- 
diately again united in spirit, and translated to the heavenly 
kingdom by the ministry of angels. But Hereberht was 
first prepared by a tedious sickness, through the dispensa- 
tion of the Divine Goodness, as may be believed, to the end 
that if he was any thing inferior in merit to the blessed 
Cuthbert, the same might be made up by the chastising 
pain of a long sickness, that being thus made equal in grace 
to his intercessor, as he departed out of the body at the 
very same time with him, so he might be received into the 
same seat of eternal bliss. The most reverend father died 
in the isle of Fame, earnestly entreating the brothers that 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 263^ 

he might also be buried in that same place, where he had 
served God a considerable time. However, at length yield- 
ing to their entreaties, he consented to be carried back to 
the isle of Lindisfarne, and there buried in the church. This 
being done accordingly, the venerable Bishop Wilfrid held 
the episcopal see of that church one year, till such time as 
one was chosen to be ordained in the room of Cuthbert. 
Afterwards Eadberht was consecrated, a man renowned for 
his knowledge in the Divine writings, as also for keeping 
the Divine precepts, and chiefly for alms-giving, so that, 
according to the law, he every year gave the tenth part, 
not only of four-footed beasts, but also of all corn and fruit, 
as also of garments, to the poor. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

ST. cuthbert"'s body was found altogether uncorrupted 

AFTER IT HAD BEEN BURIED ELEVEN YEARS ; HIS SUCCESSOR IN 
THE BISHOPRIC DEPARTED THIS WORLD NOT LONG AFTER. 

In order to show with how much glory the man of God, 
Cuthbert, lived after death, his holy life having been before 
his death signalized by frequent miracles; when he had 
been buried eleven years. Divine Providence put it into the 
minds of the brethren to take up his bones, expecting, as 
is usual with dead bodies, to find all the flesh consumed 
and reduced to ashes, and the rest dried up, and intending 
to put the same into a new coffin, and to lay them in the 
same place, but above the pavement, for the honour due to 
him. They acquainted Bishop Eadberht with their design, 
and he consented to it, and ordered that the same should 
be done on the anniversary of his burial. They did so, and 
opening the grave, found all the body whole, as if it had 
been alive, and the joints pliable, more like one asleep than 



264 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

a dead person ; besides, all the vestments the body had on 
were not only found, but wonderful for their freshness and 
gloss. The brothers seeing this, with much amazement 
hastened to tell the bishop what they had found ; he being 
then alone in a place remote from the church, and encom- 
passed by the sea. There he always used to spend the 
time of Lent, and was wont to continue there with great 
devotion, forty days before the birth of our Lord, in absti- 
nence, prayer and tears. There also his venerable prede- 
cessor, Cuthbert, had some time served God in private, 
before he went to the isle of Fame. They brought him 
some part of the garments that had covered his holy body; 
which presents he thankfully accepted, and attentively 
listening to the miracles, he with wonderful affection kissed 
those garments, as if they had been still upon his father's 
body, and said, *' Let the body be put into new garments 
in lieu of these you have brought, and so lay it into the 
coffin you have provided ; for I am certain that the place 
will not long remain empty, having been sanctified with so 
many miracles of heavenly grace ; and how happy is he to 
whom our Lord, the author and giver of all bliss, shall 
grant the privilege of lying in the same." The bishop 
having said this and much more, with many tears and great 
humility, the brothers did as he had commanded them, and 
when they had dressed the body in new garments, and laid 
it in a new coffin, they placed it on the pavement of the 
sanctuary. Soon after, the beloved bishop of God, Ead- 
berht, fell grievously sick, and his distemper daily increas- 
ing, in a short time, that is, the day before the nones of 
May, he also departed to our Lord, and they laid his body 
in the grave of the holy father Cuthbert, placing the coffin 
over it, with the uncorrupted remains of that father. The 
miracles sometimes wrought in that place testify the merits 
of them both; some of which we before preserved the 
memory of in the book of his life, and have thought fit to 
add one more in this history, which happened lately to come 
to our knowledge. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 265 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

OF ONE THAT WAS CURED OF A PALSY AT THE TOMB OF 
ST. CUTHBERT. 

There was in that same monastery a brother whose 
name was Beaduthegen, who had for a considerable time 
waited upon the guests of the house, and is still living, 
having the testimony of all the brothers and strangers re- 
sorting thither, of being a man of much piety and religion, 
and serving the office put upon him only for the sake of the 
heavenly reward. This man, having on a certain day 
washed the mantles or garments which he used in the hos- 
pital, in the sea, was returning home, when on a sudden, 
about half way, he was seized with a sudden distemper in 
his body, insomuch that he fell down, and having lain some 
time, he could scarcely rise again. When at last he got 
up, he felt one half of his body, from the head to the foot, 
struck with palsy, and with much difficulty got home by 
the help of a staflP. The distemper increased by degrees, 
and, as night approached, became still worse, so that when 
day returned, he could scarcely rise or go alone. In this 
weak condition, a good thought came into his mind, which 
was to go to the church, the best way he could, to the tomb 
of the reverend father Cuthbert, and there, on his knees, to 
beg of the Divine Goodness either to be delivered from that 
disease, if it were for his good, or if the Divine Providence 
had ordained him longer to lie under the same for his 
punishment, that he might bear the pain with patience and 
a composed mind. He did accordingly, and supporting his 
weak limbs with a staff, entered the church, and prostrating 
himself before the body of the man of God, he, with pious 
earnestness, prayed, that through his intercession, our Lord 
might be propitious to him. In the midst of his prayers, 
he fell as it were into a stupor, and, as he was afterwards 



^6Q THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

wont to relate, felt a large and broad hand touch his head, 
where the pain lay, and by that touch, all the part of his 
body which had been affected with the distemper, was deli- 
vered from the weakness, and restored to health down to 
his feet. He then awoke, and rose up in perfect health, 
and returning thanks to God for his recovery, told the bro- 
thers what had happened to him ; and to the joy of them 
all, returned the more zealously, as if chastened by his 
affliction, to the service which he was wont before so care- 
fully to perform. The very garments which had been on 
Cuthbert's body, dedicated to God, either whilst living, or 
after he was dead, were not exempt from the virtue of per- 
forming cures, as may be seen in the book of his life and 
miracles, by such as shall read it. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

OF ONE WHO WAS CUKED OF A DISTEMPER IN HIS EYE AT THE 
RELICS OF ST. CUTHBERT. 

Nor is that cure to be passed over in silence, which was 
performed by his relics three years ago, and was told me 
by the brother himself, on whom it was wrought. It hap- 
pened in the monastery, which being built near the river 
Dacore, has taken its name from the same, over which, at 
that time, the religious Suidbert presided as abbot. In that 
monastery was a youth whose eyelid had a great swelling 
on it, which growing daily, threatened the loss of the eye. 
The surgeons applied their medicines to ripen it, but in 
vain. Some said it ought to be cut off; others opposed it, 
for fear of worse consequences. The brother, having long 
laboured under this malady, and seeing no human means 
likely to save his eye, but that, on the contrary, it grew 
daily worse, was cured on a sudden, through the Divine 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 267 

Goodness, by the relics of the holy father Cuthbert ; for the 
brethren finding his body uncorrupted, after having been 
many years buried, took some part of the hair, which they 
might, at the request of friends, give or show, in testimony 
of the miracle. One of the priests of the monastery of 
Thrydred, who is now abbot there, had a small part of these 
relics by him at that time. One day in the church he 
opened the box of relics, to give some part to a friend that 
begged it, and it happened that the youth who had the dis- 
tempered eye, was then in the church ; the priest having 
given his friend as much as he thought fit, delivered the 
rest to the youth to put it into its place. Having received 
the hairs of the holy head, by some fortunate impulse, he 
clapped them to the sore eyelid, and endeavoured for some 
time, by the application of them, to soften and abate the 
swelling. Having done this, he again laid the reHcs into 
the box, as he had been ordered, believing that his eye 
would soon be cured by the hairs of the man of God, which 
had touched it, nor did his faith disappoint him. It was 
then, as he is wont to relate it, about the second hour of 
the day ; but he, being busy about other things that be- 
longed to that day, about the sixth hour of the same, 
touching his eye on a sudden, found it as sound with the 
lid, as if there never had been any swelling or deformity 
on it. 



THE 

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

OF THE 

ENGLISH NATION. 



BOOK V. 



CHAPTER I. 



OIDILWALD, SUCCESSOR TO CUTHBERT, LEADING AN EREMITICAL 
LIFE, QUELLED A TEMPEST WHEN THE BRETHREN WERE IN 
DANGER AT SEA. 

The venerable Ethelwald, who had received the priest- 
hood in the monastery of Inhrypum, and had, by actions 
worthy of the same, sanctified his holy office, succeeded the 
man of God, Cuthbert, in the exercise of a solitary life, 
having practised the same before he was bishop, in the isle 
of Fame. For the more certain demonstration of the life 
which he led, and his merit, I will relate one miracle of his, 
which was told me by one of these brothers for and on 
whom the same was wrought ; viz. Guthfrid, the venerable 
servant and priest of Christ, who, afterwards, as abbot, 
presided over the brethren of the same church of Lindisfarne, 
in which he had been educated. " I came," says he, " to 
the island of Fame, with two other brothers, to speak with 
the most reverend father, Ethelwald. Having been re- 
freshed with his discourse, and taken his blessing, as we 
were returning home, on a sudden, when we were in the 



THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, ETC. 269 

midst of the sea, the fair weather which was wafting us 
over was checked, and there ensued so great and dismal a 
tempest, that neither the sails nor oars were of any use to 
us, nor had we any thing to expect but death. After long 
struggling with the wind and waves to no effect, we looked 
behind us to see whether it were practicable at least to 
recover the island from whence we came, but we found our- 
selves on all sides so enveloped in the storm, that there was 
no hope of escaping. But looking out as far as we could 
see, we observed, on the island of Fame, Father Oidilwald, 
beloved of God, come out of his cavern to watch our course, 
for, hearing the noise of the storm and raging sea, he was 
come out to see what would become of us. When he be- 
held us in distress and despair, he bowed his knees to the 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in prayer for our life and 
safety ; upon which, the swelling sea was calmed, so that 
the storm ceasing on all sides, a fair wind attended us to 
the very shore. When we had landed, and had dragged 
upon the shore the small vessel that brought us, the storm, 
which had ceased a short time for our sake, immediately 
returned, and raged continually during the whole day ; so 
that it plainly appeared that the brief cessation of the 
storm had been granted from heaven, at the request of the 
man of God, in order that we might escape." The man of 
God remained in the isle of Fame twelve years, and died 
there ; but was buried in the church of St. Peter and Paul, 
in the isle of Lindisfarne, beside the bodies of the aforesaid 
bishops. These things happened in the days of King 
Alfred, who ruled the nation of the Northumbrians eighteen 
years after his brother Ecgfrid. 



270 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER II. 

HOW BISHOP JOHN CURED A DUMB MAN BY BLESSING HIM. 

In the beginning of the aforesaid reign, Bishop Eata 
died, and was succeeded in the prelacy of the church of 
Hagulstad by John, a holy man, of whom those that fami- 
liarly knew him are wont to tell many miracles ; and more 
particularly, the reverend Berhthum, a man of undoubted 
veracity, and once his deacon, now abbot of the monastery 
called Inderwood, that is, in the wood of the Deiri ; some 
of which miracles we have thought fit to transmit to pos- 
terity. There is a certain building in a retired situation, 
and enclosed by a narrow wood and a trench, about a mile 
and a half from the church of Hagulstad, and separated 
from it by the river Tine, having a burying-place dedicated 
to St. Michael the Archangel, where the man of God used 
frequently, as occasion offered, and particularly in Lent, to 
reside with a few companions. Being come thither once 
at the beginning of Lent, to stay, he commanded his fol- 
lowers to find out some poor person labouring under any 
grievous infirmity, or want, whom he might keep with him 
during those days, by way of alms, for so he was always 
used to do. There was in a village not far off, a certain 
dumb youth, known to the bishop, for he often used to 
come into his presence to receive alms, and who had never 
been able to speak one word. Besides, he had so much 
scurf and scabs on his head, that no hair ever grew on the 
top of it, but only some scattering hairs in a circle round 
about. The bishop caused this man to be brought, and a 
little cottage to be made him within the enclosure of the 
dwelling, in which he might reside, and receive a daily 
allowance from him. When one week of Lent was over, 
the next Sunday he caused the poor man to come in to him, 
and ordered him to put his tongue out^of his mouth and 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 271, 

show it him ; then laying hold of his chin, he made the sign 
of the cross on his tongue, directing him to draw it back 
into his mouth and to speak. " Pronounce some word," 
said he ; " say gea,'' which, in the language of the Angles, 
is the word of affirming and consenting, that is, yes. His 
tongue being loosed, he immediately said what he was or- 
dered. The bishop, then pronouncing the names of the 
letters, directed him to say A ; he did so, and afterwards 
B, which he also did. When he had named all the letters 
after the bishop, the latter proceeded to put syllables and 
words to him, which being also repeated by him, he com- 
manded him to utter whole sentences, and he did it. Nor 
did he cease all that day and the next night, as long as he 
could keep awake, as those who were present relate, to talk 
something, and to express his private thoughts and will to 
others, which he could never do before ; after the manner 
of the cripple, who, being healed by the Apostles Peter and 
John, stood up leaping, and walked, and went with them 
into the temple, walking, and skipping, and praising the 
Lord, rejoicing to have the use of his feet, which he had 
so long wanted. The bishop rejoicing at his recovery of 
speech, ordered the physician to take in hand the cure of 
his scurf ed head. He did so, and with the help of the 
bishop's blessing and prayers, a good head of hair grew as 
the flesh was healed. Thus the youth obtained a good 
aspect, a ready utterance, and a beautiful head of hair, 
whereas before he had been deformed, poor, and dumb. 
Thus rejoicing at his recovery, the bishop offered to keep 
him in his family, but he rather chose to return home. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SAME BISHOP, JOHN, BY HIS PRAYERS, HEALED A SICK MAIDEN. 

The same Berhthum told another miracle of the bishop's. 
When the reverend Wilfrid, after a long banishment, was 



272 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

admitted to the bishopric of the church of Hagulstad, and 
the aforesaid John, upon the death of Bosa, a man of great 
sanctity and humihty, was, in his place, appointed bishop of 
York, he came, once upon a time, to the monastery of Vir- 
gins, at the place called Wetadun, where the Abbess Here- 
burga then presided. When we were come thither, said he, 
and had been received with great and universal joy, the 
abbess told us, " That one of the virgins, who was her 
daughter in the flesh, laboured under a grievous distemper, 
having been lately bled in the arm, and whilst she was en- 
gaged in study, was seized with a sudden violent pain, which 
increased so that the wounded arm became worse, and so 
much swelled, that it could not be grasped with both hands; 
and thus being confined to her bed, through excess of pain, 
she was expected to die very soon/' The abbess entreated 
the bishop that he would vouchsafe to go in and give her 
his blessing ; for that she believed she would be the better 
for his blessing or touching her. He asked when the 
maiden had been bled ? and being told that it was on the 
fourth day of the moon, said, " You did very indiscreetly 
and unskilfully to bleed her on the fourth day of the moon ; 
for I remember that Archbishop Theodore, of blessed me- 
mory, said, that bleeding at that time was very dangerous, 
when the light of the moon and the tide of the ocean is in- 
creasing ; and what can I do to the girl if she is like to 
die ? "' The abbess still earnestly entreated for her daughter, 
whom she dearly loved, and designed to make abbess in her 
own stead, and at last she prevailed with him to go in to 
her. He accordingly went in, taking me along with him 
to the virgin, who lay, as I said, in great anguish, and her 
arm swelled so fast that there was no bending of the elbow ; 
the bishop stood and said a prayer over her, and having 
given his blessing, went out. Afterwards, as we were sitting 
at table, some one came in and called me out, saying, 
" Coenburg," (that was the virgin's name) " desires you will 
immediately go back to her." I did so, and entering the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 273 

house, perceived her countenance more cheerful, and like 
one in perfect health. Having seated myself down by her, 
she said, " Would you like me to call for something to 
drink?" "Yes,'' said I, "and am very glad if you can/' 
When the cup was brought, and we had both drunk, she 
said, " As soon as the bishop had said the prayer, given me 
his blessing, and gone out, I immediately began to mend ; 
and though I have not yet recovered my former strength, 
yet all the pain is quite gone from my arm, where it was 
most intense, and from all my body, as if the bishop had 
carried it away with him ; though the swelling of the arm 
still seems to remain." When we departed from thence, 
the cure of the pain in her limbs was followed by the as- 
suaging of the swelling ; and, the virgin being thus delivered 
from torture and death, returned praise to our Lord and 
Saviour, with his other servants who were there. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE SAME BISHOP HEALED AN EARL S WIFE THAT WAS SICK, 
WITH HOLY WATER. 

The same abbot related another miracle, not unlike the 
former, of the aforesaid bishop. Not very far from our mo- 
nastery, that is, about two miles off, was the country-house 
of one Puch, an earl, whose wife had languished near forty 
days under a very acute disease, insomuch that for three 
weeks she could not be carried out of the room where she 
lay. It happened that the man of God was, at that time, 
invited thither by the earl to consecrate a church ; and 
when that was done, the earl desired him to dine at his 
house. The bishop declined, saying, " He must return to 
the monastery, which was very near." The earl pressing 
him more earnestly, vowed he would also give alms to the 



274 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

poor, if the bishop would break his fast that day in his 
house. I joined my entreaties to his, promising in hke man- 
ner to give alms for the relief of the poor, if he would go 
and dine at the earl's house, and give his blessing. Having 
at length, with much difficulty, prevailed, we went in to 
dine. The bishop had sent to the woman that lay sick some 
of the holy water, which he had blessed for the consecration 
of the church, by one of the brothers that went along with 
me, ordering him to give her some to drink, and wash the 
place where her greatest pain was, with some of the same. 
This being done, the woman immediately got up in health, 
and perceiving that she had not only been delivered from 
her tedious distemper, but at the same time recovered the 
strength which she had lost, she presented the cup to the 
bishop and to us, and continued serving us with drink as 
she had begun till dinner was over ; following the example 
of Peter's mother-in-law, who, having been sick of a fever, 
arose at the touch of our Lord, and having at once received 
health and strength, ministered to them. 



CHAPTER V, 

THE SAME BISHOP RECOVERED ONE OF THE EARl's SERVANTS 
FROM DEATH. 

At another time also, being called to consecrate 
Earl Addi's church, when he had performed that duty, he 
was entreated by the earl to go in to one of his servants, 
who lay dangerously ill, and having lost the use of all his 
limbs, seemed to be just at death's door ; and indeed the 
coffin had been provided to bury him in. The earl urged 
his entreaties with tears, earnestly praying that he would 
go in and pray for him, because his life was of great conse- 
quence to him ; and he believed that if the bishop would 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 275 

lay his hand upon him and give him his blessing, he would 
soon mend. The bishop went in, and saw him in a dying 
condition, and the coffin by his side, whilst all that were 
present were in tears. He said a prayer, blessed him, and 
on going out, as is the usual expression of comforters, said, 
" May you soon recover." Afterwards, when they were 
sitting at table, the lad sent to his lord, to desire he would 
let him have a cup of wine, because he was thirsty. The 
earl, rejoicing that he could drink, sent him a cup of wine, 
blessed by the bishop ; which, as soon as he had drunk, he 
immediately got up, and, shaking off his late infirmity, 
dressed himself, and going in to the bishop, saluted him 
and the other guests, saying, " He would also eat and be 
merry with them." They ordered him to sit down with 
them at the entertainment, rejoicing at his recovery. He 
sate down, ate and drank merrily, and behaved himself like 
the rest of the company ; and living many years after, con- 
tinued in the same state of health. The aforesaid abbot 
says, this miracle was not wrought in his presence, but that 
he had it from those who were there. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE SAME BISHOP, BY HIS PEAYERS AND BLESSING, DELIVERED 
FROM DEATH ONE OF HIS CLERKS, WHO HAD BRUISED HIM- 
SELF BY A FALL. 

Nor do I think that this further miracle, which Herebald, 
the servant of Christ, says was wrought upon himself, is to 
be passed over in silence. He being then one of that bishop's 
clergy, now presides as abbot in the monastery at the 
mouth of the river Tyne. " Being present," said he, " and 
very well acquainted with his course of life, I found it to 
be most worthy of a bishop, as far as it is lawful for men to 

T 2 



276 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

judge ; but I have known by the experience of others, and 
more particularly by my own, how great his merit was 
before Him who is the judge of the heart ; having been by 
his prayer and blessing brought back from the gates of 
death to the way of life. For, when in the prime of my 
youth, I lived among his clergy, applying myself to reading 
and singing, but not having yet altogether withdrawn my 
heart from youthful pleasures, it happened one day that as 
we were travelling with him, we came into a plain and open 
road, well adapted for galloping our horses. The young 
men that were with him, and particularly those of the laity, 
began to entreat the bishop to give them leave to gallop, 
and make trial of the goodness of their horses. He at first 
refused, saying, 'it was an idle request;' but at last, being 
prevailed on by the unanimous desire of so many, ' Do so,' 
said he, ' if you will, but let Herabald have no part in the 
trial.' I earnestly prayed that I might have leave to ride 
with the rest, for I relied on an excellent horse, which he 
had given me, but I could not obtain my request. When 
they had several times galloped backwards and forwards, 
the bishop and I looking on, my wanton humour prevailed, 
and I could no longer refrain, but though he forbade me, I 
struck in among them, and began to ride at full speed ; at 
which I heard him call after me, ' Alas ! how much you 
grieve me by riding after that manner." Though I heard 
him, I went on against his command ; but immediately the 
fiery horse taking a great leap over a hollow place, I fell, 
and lost both sense and motion, as if I had been dead ; for 
there was in that place a stone, level with the ground, 
covered with only a small turf, and no other stone to be 
found in all that plain ; and it happened, as a punishment 
for my disobedience, either by chance, or by Divine Provi- 
dence so ordering it, that my head and hand, which in fall- 
ing, I had clapped to my head, hit upon that stone, so that 
my thumb was broken and my skull cracked, and I lay, as 
has been said, like one dead. It was about the seventh 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 277 

hour of the day, and having lain still, and as it were dead 
from that time till the evening; I then revived a little, and 
was carried home by my companions, but lay speechless all 
the night, vomiting blood, because something was broken 
within me by the fall. The bishop was very much grieved 
at my misfortune, and expected my death, for he bore me 
extraordinary affection. Nor would he stay that night, as 
he was wont, among his clergy ; but spent it all in watch- 
ing and prayer alone, imploring the Divine goodness, as I 
imagine, for my health. Coming to me in the morning 
early, and having said a prayer over me, he called me by 
my name, and as it were waking me out of a heavy sleep, 
asked ' Whether I knew who it was that spoke to me ? ' I 
opened my eyes and said, ' I do ; you are my beloved 
bishop.' ' Can you live ? ' said he. I answered, ' I may, 
through your prayers, if it shall please our Lord.' He then 
laid his hand on my head, with the words of blessing, and 
returned to prayer ; when he came again to see me, in a 
short time, he found me sitting and able to talk ; and, being 
induced by Divine instinct, as it soon appeared, began to 
ask me, ' Whether I knew for certain that I had been bap- 
tised ? ' I answered, ' I knew beyond all doubt that I had 
been washed in the laver of salvation, to the remission of 
my sins, and I named the priest by whom I knew myself to 
have been baptised.' He replied, ' If you were baptised by 
that priest, your baptism is not perfect ; for I know him, 
and that having been ordained priest, he could not, by rea- 
son of the dulness of his understanding, learn the ministry 
of catechising and baptising; for which reason I com- 
manded him altogether to desist from his presumptuous 
exercising of the ministry, which he could not duly perform.' 
This said, he took care to catechise me at that very time ; 
and it happened that he blew upon my face, on which I 
presently found myself better. He called the surgeon, and 
ordered him to close and bind up my skull where it was 
cracked ; and having then received his blessing, I was so 



278 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

much better that I mounted on horseback the next day, 
and travelled with him to another place ; and being soon 
after perfectly recovered, I received the baptism of life. He 
continued in his see thirty-three years, and then ascending 
to the heavenly kingdom, was buried in St. Peter's Porch, 
in his own monastery, called Inderawood, in the year of 
our Lord's incarnation 721. For having, by his great age, 
become unable to govern his bishopric, he ordained Wilfrid, 
his priest, bishop of the church of York, and retired to the 
aforesaid monastery, and there ended his days in holy 
conversation. 



CHAPTER VII. 



CEADWAL, KING OF THE WEST-SAXONS, W^ENT TO KOME TO BE BAP- 
TISED ; HIS SUCCESSOR ALSO DEVOUTLY REPAIRED TO THE SAME 
CHURCH OF THE HOLY APOSTLES. 

In the third year of the reisjn of Aldfrid, 
Ceadwal, king of the West-Saxons, having most 
honourably governed his nation two years, quitted his crown 
for the sake of our Lord and his everlasting kingdom, and 
went to Rome, being desirous to obtain the peculiar honour 
of being baptised m the church of the blessed apostles, for 
he had learned that in baptism alone, the entrance into 
heaven is opened to mankind ; and he hoped at the same 
time, that laying do^vn the flesh, as soon as baptised, he 
should immediately pass to the eternal joys of heaven ; both 
which things, by the blessing of our Lord, came to pass 
according as he had conceived in his mind. For coming to 
Rome, at the tune that Sergius was Pope, he was baptised 
on the holy Saturday before Easter Day, in the year of our 
Lord 689, and being still in his white garments, he fell 
sick, and departed this life on the 12th of the kalends of 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 279 

May, and was associated with the blessed in heaven. At 
his baptism, the aforesaid pope had given him the name of 
Peter, to the end, that he might be also united in name to 
the most blessed prince of the apostles, to whose most holy- 
body his pious love had brought him from the utmost 
bounds of the earth. He was likewise buried in his 
church, and by the pope's command an epitaph written 
on his tomb, wherein the memory of his devotion might 
be preserved for ever, and the readers or hearers might 
be inflamed with religious desire by the example of what 
he had done. 

The epitaph was this : — 

Culmen, opes, sobolem, pollentia regna, triumphos, 

Exuvias, proceres, moenia, castra, lares ; 
Quaeque patrum partus, et quae congesserat ipse, 

Ceadwal armipoteiits liqiiit amore Dei. 
Ut Petrum, sedemque Petri, rex cerneret hospes, 

Cujus fonte meras sumeret almus aquas. 
Splendificumque jubar radianti carperet haustu. 

Ex quo -vdvificus fulgor ubique fluit. 
Percipiensque alacer redi\'iv8e praemia ^atae, 

Barbaricam rabiem, nomen et inde suum, 
Conversus, convertit ovans, Petrumque vocari 

Sergius Antistes jussit, ut ipse Pater. 
Fonte renascentis, quern Christi gratia purgans, 

Protinus ablatum, venit in arce poli. 
Mira fides regis, dementia maxima Christi,^ 

Cujus consilium nullus adire potest. 
Sospes enim veniens supremo ex orbe Britanni, 

Per varias gentes, per freta, perque vias, 
Urbem Romuleam -sddit, templumque verendum 

Aspexit Petri, mystica dona gerens. 
Candidus inter oves Christi sociabilis ibit 

Corpore nam tumulum, mente superna tenet. 
Commutasse magis sceptrorum insignia credas, 

Quem regnum Christi promeruisse vides. 

Hie depositus est Ceadwalla, qui et Petrus, rex Saxonum, sub die 



280 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

duodecimo kalendarum Maianim, indictione secunda, qui vixit annos 
plus minus triginta, imperante domino Justiniano piissimo Augusto, 
anno ejus consulatus quarto, pontificante apostolico viro domino Sergio 
Papa, anno secundo. 

High state and place, kindred, a wealthy crown. 

Triumphs, and spoils in glorious battles won. 

Nobles, and cities walled, to guard his state. 

High palaces, and his familiar seat. 

Whatever honours his own virtue won. 

Or those his great forefathers handed down, 

Ceadwal armipotent, from heaven inspir'd, 

For love of heaven hath left, and here retir'd ; 

Peter to see, and Peter's sacred chair. 

The royal pilgrim travelled from afar. 

Here to imbibe pure draughts from his clear stream. 

And share the influence of his heavenly beam ; 

Here for the glories of a future claim. 

Converted, changM his first and barbarous name. 

And following Peter's rule, he from his Lord 

Assumed the name at father Sergius' word. 

At the pure font, and by Christ's grace made clean. 

In heaven is free from former taints of sin. 

Great was his faith, but greater God's decree. 

Whose secret counsels mortal cannot see. 

Safe came he, e'en from Britain's isle, o'er seas. 

And lands and countries, and through dangerous ways, 

Rome to behold, her glorious temple see. 

And mystic presents ofFer'd on his knee. 

Now in the grave his fleshly members He, 

His soul, amid Christ's flock, ascends the sky. 

Sure wise was he to lay his sceptre down. 

And gain in heaven above a lasting crown. 

Here was deposited Ceadwal, called also Peter, king of the Saxons, 
on the twelfth day of the kalends of May, the second indiction. He 
lived about thirty years, in the reign of the most pious emperor, 
Justinian, in the fourth year of his consulship, in the second year of 
our apostolic lord. Pope Sergius. 

When Ceadwal went away to Rome, Ine succeeded him 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 281 

on the throne, being of the blood royal, and having reigned 
thirty-seven years over that nation, he gave up the king- 
dom in like manner to younger persons, and went away to 
Rome, to visit the blessed apostles, at the time when Gre- 
gory was pope, being desirous to spend some time of his 
pilgrimage upon earth in the neighbourhood of the holy 
place, that he might be more easily received by the saints 
into heaven. The same thing, about the same time, was 
done through the zeal of many of the Enghsh nation, noble 
and ignoble, laity and clergy, men and women. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ARCHBISHOP THEODORE DIES, BERTHWALD SUCCEEDS HIM AS ARCH- 
BISHOP, AND AMONG MANY OTHERS W^HOM HE ORDAINED, HE 
MADE TOBIAS, A MOST LEARNED MAN, BISHOP OF THE CHURCH 
OF ROCHESTER. 

The year after that in which Ceadwal died at Rome, that 
is, 690 after the incarnation of our Lord, Archbishop Theo- 
dore, of blessed memory, departed this life, old and full of 
days, for he was eighty-eight years of age ; which number 
of years he had been wont long before to foretell to his 
friends that he should live, the same having been revealed 
to him in a dream. He held the bishopric twenty-two 
years, and was buried in St. Peter's church, where all the 
bodies of the bishops of Canterbury are buried. Of whom, 
as well as of his companions of the same degree, it may 
rightly and truly be said, that their bodies are interred in 
peace, and their names shall live from generation to gene- 
ration. For to say all in few words, the English churches 
received more advantage during the time of his pontificate, 
than ever they had done before. His person, life, age, and 
death, are plainly described to all that resort thither, by 



282 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

the epitaph on his tomb, consisting of thirty-four heroic 
verses. The first whereof are these : 

Hie sacer in tumba pausat cum corpore prsesul, 
Quem nunc Theodorum lingua Pelasga vocat. 

Princeps Pontificum, felix, summusque sacerdos, 
Limpida discipulis dogmata disseruit. 

Here rests fam'd Theodore, a Grecian name. 
Who had o'er England an archbishop's claim : 
Happy and blessed, industriously he wrought. 
And wholesome precepts to his scholars taught. 

The four last are as follow : 

Namque diem nonam decimam September habebat. 

Cum carnis claustra spiritus egreditur. 
Alma novae scandens felix consortia vitae, 

Civibus Angelicis junctus in arce poh. 

And now it was September's nineteenth day. 
When, bursting from its ligaments of clay. 
His spirit rose to its eternal rest. 
And joined in heaven the chorus of the blest. 

Berthwald succeeded Theodore in the arch- 
bishopric, being abbot of the monastery of 
Raculph, which lies on the north side of the mouth of the 
river Genlade. He was a man learned in the Scriptures, 
and well instructed in ecclesiastical and monastic discipline, 
yet not to be compared to his predecessor. He was chosen 
bishop in the year of our Lord's incarnation 692, on the 
first day of July, Withred and Suebhard being kings in 
Kent ; but he was consecrated the next year, on Sunday 
the 3d of the kalends of July, by Godwin, metropolitan 
bishop of France, and was enthroned on Sunday the day 
before the kalends of September. Among the many 
bishops whom he ordained was Tobias, a man learned in 
the Latin, Greek, and Saxon tongues, otherwise also pos- 
sessing much erudition, whom he consecrated in the stead 
of Gebmund, bishop of that see, deceased. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 283 



CHAPTER IX. 

ECGBERHT, A HOLY MAN, WOULD HAVE GONE INTO GERMANY TO 
PREACH, BUT COULD NOT ; WICBERHT WENT, BUT MEETING 
WITH NO SUCCESS, RETURNED INTO IRELAND, FROM WHENCE HE 
CAME. 

At that time the venerable servant of Christ, and priest, 
Ecgberht, whom I cannot name but with the greatest 
respect, and who, as we said before, Uved a stranger in Ire- 
land to obtain hereafter a residence in heaven, proposed to 
himself to do good to many, by taking upon him the apos- 
tolical work, and preaching the word of God to some of 
those nations that had not yet heard it ; many of which 
nations he knew there were in Germany, from whom the 
Angles or Saxons, who now inhabit Britain, are known to 
have derived their origin ; for which reason they are stiU 
corruptly called Garmans by the neighbouring nation of the 
Britons. Such are the Frisons, the Rugins, the Danes, 
the Huns, the ancient Saxons, and the Boructuars, (or 
Bructers). There are also in the same parts many other 
nations still following Pagan rites, to whom the aforesaid 
soldier of Christ designed to repair, sailing round Britain, 
and to try whether he could deliver any of them from Satan, 
and bring them over to Christ ; or if this could not be 
done, to go to Rome, to see and worship the repositories 
of the holy apostles and martyrs of Christ. But the Divine 
oracles and certain events proceeding from heaven ob- 
structed his performing either of those designs ; for when 
he had made choice of some most courageous companions, 
fit to preach the word of God, as being renowned for their 
learning and virtue ; when all things were provided for the 
voyage, there came to him on a certain day in the morning 
one of the brethren, formerly disciple and minister in Bri- 
tain to the beloved priest of God, Boisil, when the said 



284 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

Boisil was superior of the monastery of Mailros, under the 
Abbot Eata, as has been said above. This brother told 
him the vision which he had seen that night. "• When 
after the morning hymns," said he, "I had laid me down 
in my bed, and was fallen into a slumber, my former mas- 
ter, and loving tutor, Boisil, appeared to me, and asked, 
' Whether I knew him V I said, ' I do ; you are Boisil.'' He 
answered, ' I am come to bring Ecgberht a message from 
our Lord and Saviour, which nevertheless must be deli- 
vered to him by you. Tell him, therefore, that he cannot 
perform the journey he has undertaken ; for it is the will 
of God that he should rather go to instruct the monasteries 
of Columba.' " Now Columba was the first teacher of 
Christianity to the Picts beyond the mountains northward, 
and the founder of the monastery in the island Hii, which 
was for a long time much honoured by many tribes of the 
Scots and Picts ; and which is now by some called Columb- 
kill, the name being compounded from Columb and Cell. 
Ecgberht having heard the vision, ordered the brother that 
had told it him, not to mention it to any other, lest it 
should happen to be an illusion. However, when he con- 
sidered of it with himself, he apprehended that it was real ; 
yet would not desist from preparing for his voyage to in- 
struct those nations. A few days after the aforesaid 
brother came again to him, saying, " That Boisil had that 
night again appeared to him after matins, and said, * Why 
did you tell Ecgberht that which I enjoined you, in so light 
and cold a manner ? However, go now and tell him, that 
whether he will or no, he shall go to Columb's monastery, 
because their ploughs do not go straight ; and he is to bring 
them into the right way.' " Hearing this, Ecgberht again 
commanded the brother not to reveal the same to any per- 
son. Though now assured of the vision, he nevertheless 
attempted to undertake his intended voyage with the bre- 
thren. When they had put aboard all that was requisite 
for so long a voyage, and had waited some days for a fair 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 285 

wind, there arose one night on a sudden so violent a storm, 
that the ship was run aground, and part of what had been 
put aboard spoiled. However, all that belonged to Ecg- 
berht and his companions was saved. Then he, saying, like 
the prophet, " This tempest has happened upon my ac- 
count," laid aside the undertaking and stayed at home. 
However, Wicberht, one of his companions, being famous 
for his contempt of the world and for his knowledge, for 
he had lived many years a stranger in Ireland, leading an 
eremitical life in great purity, went aboard, and arriving in 
Friseland, preached the word of salvation for the space of 
two years successively to that nation and to its king, Rath- 
bed ; but reaped no fruit of all his great labour among his 
barbarous auditors. Returning then to the beloved place 
of his peregrination, he gave himself up to our Lord in his 
wonted repose, and since he could not be profitable to 
strangers by teaching them the faith, he took care to be 
the more useful to his own people by the example of his 
virtue. 



CHAPTER X. 

WILBROD, PREACHING IN FRISELAND, CONVERTED MANY TO CHRIST; 
HIS TWO COMPANIONS, THE HEWALDS, SUFFERED MARTYRDOM. 

When the man of God, Ecgberht, perceived that neither 
he himself was permitted to preach to the Gentiles, being 
withheld, on account of some other advantage to the 
church, which had been foretold him by the Divine oracle ; 
nor that Wicberht, when he went into those parts, had met 
with any success ; he nevertheless still attempted to send 
some holy and industrious men to the work of the word, 
among whom was Wilbrod, a man eminent for his merit 
and rank in the priesthood. They arrived there, twelve in 



286 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

number, and turning aside to Pepin, duke of the Franks, 
were graciously received by him ; and as he had lately sub- 
dued the hither Friseland, and expelled King Rathbed, he 
sent them thither to preach, supporting them at the same 
time with his authority, that none might molest them in 
their preaching, and bestowing many favours on those who 
consented to embrace the faith. Thus it came to pass, that 
with the assistance of the Divine grace, they in a short 
time converted many from idolatry to the faith of Christ. 
Two other priests of the English nation, who had long lived 
strangers in Ireland, for the sake of the eternal kingdom, 
following the example of the former, went into the province 
of the ancient Saxons, to try whether they could there gain 
any to Christ by preaching. They both bore the same 
name, as they were the same in devotion, Hewald being the 
name of both, with this distinction, that on account of the 
difference of their hair, the one was called Black Hewald 
and the other White Hewald. They were both piously re- 
ligious, but Black Hewald was the more learned of the two 
in Scripture. On entering that province, these men took 
up their lodging in a certain steward's house, and requested 
that he would conduct them to his lord, for that they had a 
message, and something to his advantage, to communicate 
to him ; for those ancient Saxons have no king, but several 
lords that rule their nation; and when any war happens, 
they cast lots indifferently, and on whomsoever the lot falls, 
him they follow and obey during the war ; but as soon as 
the war is ended, all those lords are again equal in power. 
The steward received and entertained them in his house 
some days, promising to send them to his lord, as they 
desired. But the barbarians finding them to be of another 
religion, by their continual prayer and singing of psalms 
and hymns, and by their daily offering the sacrifice of the 
saving oblation, for they had with them sacred vessels and 
a consecrated table for an altar, they began to grow jealous 
of them, lest if they should come into the presence of their 



; OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 287 

chief, and converse with him, they should turn his heart 
from their gods, and convert him to the new rehgion of the 
Christian faith ; and thus by degrees all their province 
should change its old worship for a new. Hereupon they, 
on a sudden, laid hold of them and put them to death ; the 
White Hewald they slew immediately with the sword, but 
the Black they put to tedious torture and tore limb from 
limb, throwing them into the Rhine. The chief, whom they 
had desired to see, hearing of it, was highly incensed, that 
the strangers who desired to come to him had not been 
allowed ; and therefore he sent and put to death all those 
peasants and burnt their village. The aforesaid priests and 
servants of Christ suffered on the 5th of the nones of 
October. Nor did their martyrdom want the honour of 
miracles ; for their dead bodies having been cast into the 
river by the Pagans, as has been said, were carried against 
the stream for the space of almost forty miles, to the place 
where their companions were. Moreover, a long ray of 
light, reaching up to heaven, shined every night over the 
place where they arrived, in the sight of the very Pagans 
that had slain them. Moreover, one of them appeared in 
a vision by night to one of his companions, whose name 
was Tilmon, a man illustrious and of noble birth, who of a 
soldier was become a monk, acquainting him that he might 
find their bodies in that place, where he should see rays of 
light reaching from heaven to the earth, which turned out 
accordingly; and then' bodies being found, were interred 
with the honour due to martyrs ; and the day of their passion 
or of their bodies being found, is celebrated in those parts 
with proper veneration. At length, Pepin, the most glo- 
rious general of the Franks, understanding these things, 
caused the bodies to be brought to him, and buried them 
with much honour in the church of the city of Cologne, on 
the Rhine. It is reported, that a spring gushed out in the 
place where they were killed, which to this day affords a 
plentiful stream. 



288 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XI. 

HOW THE VENERABLE SUIDBERCHT IN BRITAIN, AND WILBROD AT 
ROME, WERE ORDAINED BISHOPS FOR FRISELAND. 

At their first coming into Friseland, as soon as Wilbrod 
found he had leave given him by the prince to preach, he 
made haste to Rome, Pope Sergius then presiding over the 
apostohcal see, that he might undertake the desired work 
of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, with his license 
and blessing ; and hoping to receive of him some relics of 
the blessed apostles and martyrs of Christ ; to the end, 
that when he destroyed the idols, and erected churches in 
the nation to which he preached, he might have the relics 
of saints at hand to put into them, and having deposited 
them there, might accordingly dedicate those places to the 
honour of each of the saints whose the relics were. He was 
also desirous there to learn or to receive from thence many 
other things which so great a work required. Having ob- 
tained all that he wanted, he returned to preach. At which 
time, the brothers who were in Friseland, attending the 
ministry of the word, chose out of their own number a man, 
modest of behaviour, and meek of heart, called Suidbercht, 
to be ordained bishop for them. He, being sent into Britain, 
was consecrated by the most reverend bishop Wilfrid, who 
happening to be then driven out of his country, lived in 
banishment among the Mercians ; for Kent had no bishop 
at that time, Theodore being dead, and Berchtwald, his 
successor, who was gone beyond the sea, to be ordained, not 
having returned. The said Suidbercht being made bishop, 
returned from Britain not long after, and went among the 
Boructuarians ; and by his preaching brought many of 
them into the way of truth ; but the Boructuarians being 
not long after subdued by the ancient Saxons, those who 
had received the word were dispersed abroad ; and the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 289 

bishop himself repaired to Pepin, who, at the request of his 
wife, Bliththrythe, gave him a place of residence in a cer- 
tain island on the Rhine, which, in their tongue, is called 
Inlitore ; where he built a monastery, which his heirs still 
possess, and for a time led a most continent life, and there 
ended his days. When they who went over had spent some 
years teaching in Friseland, Pepin, with the consent of 
them all, sent the venerable Wilbrod to Rome, where Ser- 
gius was still pope, desiring that he might be consecrated 
archbishop over the nation of the Prisons ; which was ac- 
cordingly done, in the year of our Lord's incarnation 696, 
He was consecrated in the church of the Holy Martyr 
Cecilia, on her feast-day ; the pope gave him the name of 
Clement, and sent him back to his bishopric, fourteen days 
after his arrival at Rome. Pepin gave him a place for his 
episcopal see, in his famous castle, which in the ancient 
language of those people is called Wiltaburg, that is, the 
town of the Wilts ; but, in the French tongue, Utrecht. 
The most reverend prelate having built a church there, and 
preaching the word of faith far and near, drew many from 
their errors, and erected several churches and monasteries. 
For not long after he constituted other bishops in those 
parts, from among the bretln^en that either came with him 
or after him to preach there ; some of which are now de- 
parted in our Lord; but Wilbrod himself, surnamed Cle- 
ment, is still living, venerable for old age, having been 
thirty-six years a bishop, and sighing after the rewards of 
the heavenly life, after the many spiritual conflicts which 
he has waged. 



290 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XII. 

OF ONE AMONG THE NORTHUMBRIANS, WHO ROSE FROM THE DEAD, 
AND RELATED THE THINGS WHICH HE HAD SEEN, SOME EXCITING 
TERROR, OTHERS DELIGHT. 

At this time a memorable miracle, and like to those of 
former days, was wrought in Britain ; for, to the end that 
the living might be saved from the death of the soul, a cer- 
tain person, who had been some time dead, rose again to 
life, and related many remarkable things he had seen ; 
some of which I have thought fit here briefly to take notice 
of. There was a master of a family in that district of the 
Northumbrians, which is called Cuningham, who led a reli- 
gious life, as did also all that belonged to him. This man 
fell sick, and his distemper daily increasing, being brought 
to extremity, he died in the beginning of the night ; but 
in the morning early, he suddenly came to life again, and 
sat up, upon which all those that sat about the body weep- 
ing, fled away in a great fright, only his wife, who loved him 
best, though in a great consternation and trembling, re- 
mained with him. He, comforting her, said, " Fear not, for 
I am now truly risen from death, and permitted again to 
live among men ; however, I am not to live hereafter as I 
was wont, but from henceforward after a very different 
manner." Then rising immediately, he repaired to the 
oratory of the little town, and continuing in prayer till 
day, immediately divided all his substance into three parts ; 
one whereof he gave to his wife, another to his children, 
and the third belonging to himself, he instantly distributed 
among the poor. Not long after he repaired to the monas- 
tery of Mailros, which is almost enclosed by the winding of 
the river Twede, and having been shaven, went into a pri- 
vate dwelhng, which the abbot had provided, where he con- 
tinued till the day of his death, in such extraordinary con- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 291 

trition of mind and body, that, though his tongue had been 
silent, his life declared that he had seen many things either 
to be dreaded or coveted, which others knew nothing of. 
Thus he related what he had seen. " He that led me had 
a shining countenance and a bright garment, and we went 
on silently, as I thought, towards the north-east. Walking 
on, we came to a vale of great breadth and depth, but of 
infinite length ; on the left it appeared full of dreadful 
flames, the other side was no less horrid for violent hail and 
cold snow flying in all directions ; both places were full of 
men's souls, which seemed by turns to be tossed from one 
side to the other, as it were by a violent storm ; for when the 
wretches could no longer endure the excess of heat, they 
leaped into the middle of the cutting cold ; and finding no 
rest there, they leaped back again into the middle of the 
unquenchable flames. Now whereas an innumerable multi- 
tude of deformed spirits was thus alternately tormented far 
and near, as far as could be seen, without any intermission, 
I began to think that this perhaps might be hell, of whose 
intolerable flames I had often heard talk. My guide, who 
went before me, answered to my thought, saying, ' Do not 
believe so, for this is not the hell you imagine.' When he 
had conducted me, much frightened with that horrid spec- 
tacle, by degrees, to the farther end, on a sudden I saw the 
place begin to grow dusk and filled with darkness. When 
I came into it, the darkness, by degrees, grew so thick, 
that I could see nothing besides it and the shape and gar- 
ment of him that led me. As we went on through the 
shades of night, on a sudden there appeared before us fre- 
quent globes of black flames, rising as it were out of a great 
pit, and falling back again into the same. When I had 
been conducted thither, my leader suddenly vanished, and 
left me alone in the midst of darkness and this horrid 
vision, whilst those same globes of fire, without intermis- 
sion, at one time flew up and at another fell back into the 
bottom of the abyss ; and I observed that all the flames, 

u2 



292 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

as they ascended, were full of human souls, which, like 
sparks flying up with smoke, were sometimes thrown on 
high, and again, when the vapour of the fire ceased, dropped 
down into the depth below. Moreover, an insufferable stench 
came forth with the vapours, and filled all those dark places. 
Having stood there a long time in much dread, not knowing 
what to do, which way to turn, or what end I might expect, 
on a sudden I heard behind me the noise of a most hideous 
and wretched lamentation, and at the same time a loud 
laughing, as of a rude multitude insulting captured enemies. 
When that noise, growing plainer, came up to me, I ob- 
served a gang of evil spirits dragging the howling and 
lamenting souls of men into the midst of the darkness, 
whilst they themselves laughed and rejoiced. Among those 
men, as I could discern, there was one shorn like a clergy- 
man, a layman, and a woman. The evil spirits that dragged 
them went down into the midst of the burning pit ; and 
as they went down deeper, I could no longer distinguish 
between the lamentation of the men and the laughing of 
the devils, yet I still had a confused sound in my ears. In 
the meantime, some of the dark spirits ascended from that 
flaming abyss, and running forward, beset me on all sides, 
and much perplexed me with their glaring eyes and the 
stinking fire which proceeded from their mouths and nos- 
trils ; and threatened to lay hold on me with burning tongs, 
which they had in their hands, yet they durst not touch 
me, though they frightened me. Being thus on all sides 
enclosed with enemies and darkness, and looking about on 
every side for assistance, there appeared behind me, on the 
way that I came, as it were, the brightness of a star shining 
amidst the darkness; which increased by degrees, and 
came rapidly towards me : when it drew near, all those evil 
spirits, that sought to carry me away with their tongs, dis- 
persed and fled. He, whose approach put them to flight, 
was the same that had led me before ; who, then turning 
towards the right, began to lead me, as it were, towards 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 293 

the south-east, and having soon brought me out of the 
darkness, conducted me into an atmosphere of clear Ught. 
While he thus led me in open light, I saw a vast wall before 
us, the length and height of which, in every direction, 
seemed to be altogether boundless. I began to wonder why 
we went up to the wall, seeing no door, window, or path 
through it. When we came to the wall, we were presently, 
I know not by what means, on the top of it, and within it 
was a vast and delightful field, so full of fragrant flowers 
that the odour of its delightful sweetness immediately dis- 
pelled the stink of the dark furnace, which had pierced me 
through and through. So great was the light in this place, 
that it seemed to exceed the brightness of the day or the 
sun in its meridian height. In this field were innumerable 
assemblies of men in white, and many companies seated 
together rejoicing. As he led me through the midst of those 
happy inhabitants, I began to think that this might, per- 
haps, be the kingdom of heaven, of which I had often heard 
much. He answered to my thought, saying, ' This is not 
the kingdom of heaven, as you imagine.' When we had 
passed those mansions of blessed souls and gone farther on, I 
discovered before me a much more beautiful light, and therein 
heard sweet voices of persons singing, and so wonderful a 
fragrancy proceeded from the place, that the other which I 
had before thought most delicious, then seemed to me but 
very indifferent ; even as that extraordinary brightness of 
the flowery field, compared with this, appeared mean and 
inconsiderable. When I began to hope we should enter 
that delightful place, my guide, on a sudden, stood still ; 
and then turning back, led me back by the way we came. 
When we were returned to those joyful mansions of the 
souls in white, he said to me, ' Do you know what all 
these things are which you have seen I ' I answered, I did 
not ; and then he replied, ' That vale you saw so dreadful 
for consuming flames and cutting cold, is the place in which 
the souls of those are tried and punished who, delaying to 



294 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

confess and amend their crimes, at length have recourse to 
repentance at the point of death, and so depart this hfe ; 
but nevertheless because they, even at their death, confessed 
and repented, they shall all be received into the kingdom of 
heaven at the day of judgment ; but many are relieved 
before the day of judgment, by the prayers, alms, and fast- 
ing, of the living, and more especially by masses. That 
fiery and stinking pit, vi^hich you saw, is the mouth of hell, 
into which whosoever falls shall never be delivered to all 
eternity. This flowery place, in which you see these most 
beautiful young people, so bright and merry, is that into 
which the souls of those are received who depart the body 
in good works, but who are not so perfect as to deserve to 
be immediately admitted into the kingdom of heaven ; yet 
they shall all, at the day of judgment, see Christ, and par- 
take of the joys of his kingdom ; for whoever are perfect in 
thought, word and deed, as soon as they depart the body, 
immediately enter into the kingdom of heaven ; in the 
neighbourhood whereof that place is, where you heard the 
sound of sweet singing, with the fragrant odour and bright 
light. As for you, who are now to return to your body, 
and live among men again, if you will endeavour nicely to 
examine your actions, and direct your speech and behaviour 
in righteousness and simplicity, you shall, after death, have 
a place of residence among these joyful troops of blessed 
souls ; for when I left you for a while, it was to know how 
you were to be disposed of.' When he had said this to me, 
I much abhorred returning to my body, being delighted 
with the sweetness and beauty of the place I beheld, and 
with the company of those I saw in it. However I durst 
not ask him any questions; but in the meantime, on a 
sudden, I found myself alive among men." This man of 
God would not relate these and other things which he had 
seen, to slothful persons and such as lived negligently ; but 
only to those who, being terrified with the dread of tor- 
ments, or delighted with the hopes of heavenly joys, would 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 295 

make use of his words to advance in piety. In the neigh- 
bourhood of his cell lived one Hemgels, a monk, eminent in 
the priesthood, which he honoured by his good works : he 
is still living, and leading a solitary life in Ireland, support- 
ing his declining age with coarse bread and cold water. 
He often went to that man, and asking several questions, 
heard of him all the particulars of what he had seen when 
separated from his body ; by whose relation we also came 
to the knowledge of those few particulars which we have 
briefly set down. He also related his visions to King Aldfrid, 
a man most learned in all respects, and was by him so wil- 
lingly and attentively heard, that at his request he was 
admitted into the monastery above-mentioiied, and received 
the monastic tonsure ; and the said king, when he hap- 
pened to be in those parts, very often went to hear him. 
At that time the religious and humble abbot and priest, 
Edilwald, presided over the monastery, and now with 
worthy conduct possesses the episcopal see of the church of 
Lindisfarne. He had a more private place of residence 
assigned him in that monastery, where he might apply 
himself to the service of his Creator in continual prayer. 
And as that place lay on the bank of the river, he was 
w^ont often to go into the same to do penance in his body, 
and many times to dip quite under the water, and to con- 
tinue saying psalms or prayers in the same as long as he 
could endure it, standing still sometimes up to the middle, 
and sometimes to the neck in water ; and when he went 
out from thence ashore, he never took off his cold and 
frozen garments till they grew w^arm and dry on his body. 
And when in the winter the half-broken pieces of ice were 
swimming about him, which he had himself broken, to 
make room to stand or dip himself in the river, those who 
beheld it would say, " It is wonderful, brother Drithelm, 
(for so he was called), that you are able to endure such 
violent cold ;" he simply answered, for he was a man of 
much simplicity and indifferent wit, " I have seen greater 



296 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

cold," And when they said, " It is strange that you will 
endure such austerity;" he replied, " I have seen more 
austerity." Thus he continued, through an indefatigable 
desire of heavenly bliss, to subdue his aged body with daily 
fasting, till the day of his being called away ; and he for- 
warded the salvation of many by his words and example. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



OF ANOTHER, WHO BEFORE HIS DEATH SAW A BOOK CONTAINING 
ALL HIS SINS, WHICH WAS SHOWED HIM BY DEVILS. 

It happened quite the contrary with one in the province 
of the Mercians, whose visions and words, and also his 
behaviour, were neither advantageous to others nor to him- 
self. In the reign of Coenred, who succeeded Ethilred, 
there was a layman in a military employment, no less ac- 
ceptable to the king for his worldly industry, than displeas- 
ing to him for his private neglect of himself. The king 
often admonished him to confess and amend, and to forsake 
his wicked courses, before he should lose all time for repen- 
tance and amendment by a sudden death. Though fre- 
quently warned, he despised the words of salvation, and 
promised he would do penance at some future time. In the 
meantime, falling sick, he was confined to his bed, and 
began to feel very severe pains. The king coming to him 
(for he loved the man), earnestly exhorted him, even then, 
before death, to repent of his offences. He answered, 
" He would not then confess his sins, but would do it when 
he was recovered of his sickness, lest his companions should 
upbraid him of having done that for fear of death, which he 
had refused to do in health." He thought he then spoke 
very bravely, but it afterwards appeared that he had been 
miserably deluded by the wiles of the devil. The distemper 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 297 

still increasing, when the king came again to visit and 
instruct him, he cried out with a lamentable voice, " What 
will you have now? What are you come for? for you 
can no longer do me any good." The king answered, " Do 
not talk so ; behave yourself like a man in his right mind." 
" I am not mad," replied he, '' but I have now all the guilt 
of my wicked conscience before my eyes." " What is the 
meaning of that?" rejoined the king. "Not long since," 
said he, "there came into this room two most beautiful 
youths, and sat down by me, the one at my head, and the 
other at my feet. One of them produced a very small and 
most curious book, and gave it me to read ; looking into it, 
I there found all the good actions I had ever done in my 
life, written down, and they were very few and inconsidera- 
ble. They took back the book and said nothing to me. 
Then, on a sudden, appeared an army of wicked and de- 
formed spirits, encompassing this house without, and filling 
it within. Then he, who, by the blackness of his dismal 
face, and his sitting above the rest, seemed to be the chief 
of them, taking out a book, horrid to behold, of a prodigious 
size, and of almost insupportable weight, commanded one 
of his followers to bring it to me to read. Having read it, 
I found therein most plainly written in black characters, 
all the crimes I ever committed, not only in word and deed, 
but even in the least thought ; and he said to those men in 
white, who sat by me, 'Why do you sit here, since you most 
certainly know that this man is ours?" They answered, 
' You are in the right, take and add him to the number of 
the damned.' This said, they immediately vanished, and 
two most wicked spirits rising, having knives in their hands, 
one of them struck me on the head, and the other on the 
foot. These strokes are now with great torture penetrat- 
ing through my bowels to the inward parts of my body, and 
as soon as they meet I shall die, and the devils being ready 
to snatch me away, I shall be dragged into hell." Thus 
talked that wretch in despair, and dying soon after, he is now 



298 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

in vain suffering in eternal torments that penance which he 
refused to suffer during a short time, that he might obtain 
forgiveness. Of whom it is manifest, that (as the holy 
Pope Gregory writes of certain persons) he did not see 
these things for his owti sake, since they availed him only 
for the instruction of others, w^ho, knowing of his death, 
should be afraid to put off the time of repentance, whilst 
they have leisure, lest being prevented by sudden death, 
they should depart impenitent. His having books laid 
before him by the good or evil spirits, was done by Divine 
dispensation, that we may keep in mind that our actions 
and thoughts are not lost in the wind, but are all kept to 
be examined by the Supreme Judge, and will in the end be 
shown us either by friendly or hostile angels. As to the 
angels first producing a white book, and then the devils a 
black one ; the former a very small one, the latter one very 
large ; it is to be observed, that in his first years he did 
some good actions, all which he nevertheless obscm-ed by 
the evil actions of his youth. If, on the contrary, he had 
taken care in his youth to correct the errors of his more 
tender years, and to cancel them in God's sight by doing 
well, he might have been associated to the number of those 
of whom the Psalm says, " Blessed are those whose iniqui- 
ties are forgiven, and whose sins are hid." This story, as 
I learned it of the venerable Bishop Pecthelm, I thought 
proper to relate in a plain manner, for the salvation of my 
hearers. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

OF ANOTHER, WHO BEING AT THE POINT OF DEATH, SAW THE 
PLACE OF PUNISHMENT APPOINTED FOR HIM IN HELL. 

I KNEW a brother myself, would to God I had not known 
him, whose name I could mention if it were necessary, and 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 299 

who resided in a noble monastery, but lived himself ignobly. 
He was frequently reproved by the brethren and elders of 
the place, and admonished to adopt a more regular life ; 
and though he would not give ear to them, he was long 
patiently borne with by them, on account of his usefulness 
in temporal works, for he was an excellent carpenter ; he 
was much addicted to drunkenness, and other pleasures of 
a lawless life, and more used to stop in his workhouse day 
and night, than to go to church to sing and pray, and hear 
the word of life with the brethren. For which reason it 
happened to him according to the saying, that he who will 
not willingly and humbly enter the door of the church will 
certainly be damned, and enter the gate of hell against his 
will. For he falling sick, and being reduced to extremity, 
called the brethren, and with much lamentation, and like 
one damned, began to tell them, that he saw hell open, and 
Satan at the bottom thereof; as also Caiaphas, with the 
others that slew our Lord, by him delivered up to avenging 
flames. " In whose neighbourhood," said he, " I see a 
place of eternal perdition provided for me, miserable 
■s^Tetch." The brothers, hearing these words, began seri- 
ously to exhort him, that he should repent even then whilst 
he was in the flesh. He answered in despair, " I have no 
time now to change my course of life, when I have myself 
seen my judgment passed." Whilst uttering these words, 
he died without having received the saving viaticum, and 
his body was buried in the remotest parts of the monastery, 
nor did any one dare either to say masses or sing psalms, 
or even to pray for him. How far has our Lord divided 
the light from darkness ! The blessed martyr, Stephen, 
being about to suffer death for the truth, saw the heavens 
open, the glory of God revealed, and Jesus standing on the 
right hand of God. And where he was to be after death, 
there he fixed the eyes of his mind, that he might die with 
the more satisfaction. On the contrary, this carpenter, of 
a dark mind and actions, when death was at hand, saw hell 



300 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

open and witnessed the damnation of the devil and his fol- 
lowers ; the unhappy wretch also saw his own prison among 
them, to the end that, despau-ing of his salvation, he might 
die the more miserably ; but might by his perdition afford 
cause of salvation to the living who should hear of it. This 
happened lately in the province of the Bernicians, and being 
reported abroad far and near, inclined many to do penance 
for their sins without delay, which we hope may also be the 
result of this our narrative. 



CHAPTER XV. 



SEVERAL CHURCHES OF THE SCOTS, AT THE INSTANCE OF ADAMNAN, 
CONFORMED TO THE C4-TH0LIC EASTER ; THE SAME PERSON 
WROTE A BOOK ABOUT THE HOLY PLACES. 

At this time a great part of the Scots in Ireland, and 
some also of the Britons in Britain, through the goodness 
of God, conformed to the proper and ecclesiastical time of 
keeping Easter. Adamnan, priest and abbot of the monks 
that were in the isle of Hii, was sent ambassador by his 
nation to Aldfrid, king of the English, where he made some 
stay, observing the canonical rites of the church, and was 
earnestly admonished by many, who were more learned than 
himself, not to presume to live contrary to the universal 
custom of the Church, either in relation to the observance 
of Easter, or any other decrees whatsoever, considering the 
small number of his followers seated in so distant a corner 
of the world ; in consequence of this he changed his mind, 
and readily preferred those things which he had seen and 
heard in the English churches, to the customs which he 
and his people had hitherto followed. For he was a good 
and wise man, and remarkably learned in holy Scripture. 
Returning home, he endeavoured to bring his own people 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 301 

that were in the isle of Hii, or that were subject to that 
monastery, into the way of truth, which he had learned and 
embraced with all his heart ; but in this he could not pre- 
vail. He then sailed over into Ireland, to preach to those 
people, and by modestly declaring the legal time of Easter, 
he reduced many of them, and almost all that were not 
under the dominion of those of Hii, to the Catholic unity, 
and taught them to keep the legal time of Easter. Return- 
ing to his island, after having celebrated the canonical 
Easter in Ireland, he most earnestly inculcated the ob- 
servance of the Catholic time of Easter in his monastery, 
yet without being able to prevail; and it so happened 
that he departed this life before the next year came 
round, the Divine goodness so ordaining it that as he was 
a great lover of peace and unity, he should be taken away 
to everlasting life before he should be obliged, on the return 
of the time of Easter, to quarrel still more seriously with 
those that would not follow him in the truth. This same 
person wrote a book about the holy places, most useful to 
many readers ; his authority, from whom he procured his 
information, was Arnulfus, a French bishop, who had gone 
to Jerusalem for the sake of the holy places ; and having 
seen all the Land of Promise, travelled to Damascus, Con- 
stantinople, Alexandria, and many islands, and returning 
home by sea, was by a violent storm forced upon the 
western coast of Britain. After many other accidents, he 
came to the aforesaid servant of Christ, Adamnan, who, 
finding him to be learned in the Scriptures, and acquainted 
with the holy places, entertained him zealously, and atten- 
tively gave ear to him, insomuch that he presently com- 
mitted to \\Titing all that Arnulfus said he had seen 
remarkable in the holy places. Thus he composed a work 
beneficial to many, and particularly to those who, being far 
removed from those places where the patriarchs and apostles 
lived, know no more of them than what they learn by 
reading. Adamnan presented this book to King Aldfrid, 



302 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

and through his bounty it came to be read by lesser persons. 
The ^vriter thereof was also well rewarded by him, and sent 
back into his country. I believe it will be acceptable to 
our readers if we collect some particulars from the same, 
and insert them in our history. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE ACCOUNT GIVEN BY THE AFORESAID BOOK OF THE PLACE OF 
OUR lord's NATIVITY, PASSION AND RESURRECTION. 

He wrote concerning the place of the nativity of our 
Lord, to this effect. Bethlehem, the city of David, is 
seated on a narrow ridge, encompassed on all sides with 
vallies, being a thousand paces in length from east to west, 
the wall low without towers, built along the edge of the 
plain on the summit. In the east angle thereof is a sort of 
natm^al half cave, the outward part whereof is said to have 
been the place where our Lord was born; the inner is 
called our Lord's manger. This cave within is all covered 
with rich marble, over the place where our Lord is said 
particularly to have been born, and over it is the great 
church of St. Mary. He likewise wrote about the place of 
his passion and resurrection in this manner. Entering the 
city of Jerusalem on the north side, the first place to be 
visited according to the disposition of the streets, is the 
church of Constantino, called the martyrdom. It was built 
by the Emperor Constantine, in a royal and magnificent 
manner, on account of the cross of our Lord having been 
found there by his mother Helen. From hence, to the 
westward, appears the church of Golgotha, in which is also 
to be seen the rock which once bore a great silver cross 
with our Saviour's body fixed on it, and now it bears a very 
large cross, with a great brazen wheel hanging over it sur- 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 303 

rounded with lamps. Under the place of our Lord's cross, 
a vault is hewn out of the rock, in which sacrifice is offered 
on an altar for honourable persons deceased, their bodies 
remaining meanwhile in the street. To the westward of 
this is the Anastasis, that is, the round church of our 
Saviour's resurrection, encompassed with three walls, and 
supported by twelve columns. Between each of the walls 
is a broad space, containing three altars at three different 
points of the middle wall ; to the north, the south, and the 
west, it has eight doors or entrances through the three 
opposite walls ; four whereof front to the north-east, and 
four to the south-east. In the midst of it is the round 
tomb of our Lord cut out of the rock, the top of which a 
man standing within can touch; the entrance is on the 
east; against it is laid that great stone, which to this day 
bears the marks of the iron tools within, but on the outside 
it is all covered with marble to the very top of the roof, 
which is adorned with gold, and bears a large golden cross. 
In the north part of the monument, the tomb of our Lord 
is hewed out of the same rock, seven foot in length, and 
three palms above the floor; the entrance being on the 
south side, where twelve lamps burn day and night, four 
within the sepulchre, and eight above on the right hand 
side. The stone that was laid at the entrance to the mo- 
nument, is now cleft in two ; nevertheless, the lesser part 
of it stands as a square altar before the door of the monu- 
ment ; the greater part makes another square altar in the 
east part of the same church, and is covered with linen 
cloths. The colour of the said monument and sepulchre 
appears to be white and red. 



304 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XVII. 

OF THE PLACE OF OUR LORd's ASCENSION, AND THE TOMBS OF 
THE PATRIARCHS. 

Concerning the place of our Lord's ascension, the afore- 
said author writes thus. Mount Olivet is equal in height 
to Mount Sion, but exceeds it in breadth and length; 
bearing few trees besides vines and olive trees, and is fruit- 
ful in wheat and barley, for the nature of that soil is not 
calculated for bearing things of large or heavy growth, but 
grass and flowers. On the very top of it, where our Lord 
ascended into heaven, is a large round church, having about 
it three vaulted porches. For the inner house could not be 
vaulted and covered, because of the passage of our Lord's 
body ; but it has an altar on the east side, covered with a 
narrow roof. In the midst of it are to be seen the last 
prints of our Lord's feet, the sky appearing open above 
where he ascended ; and though the earth is daily carried 
away by believers, yet still it remains as before, and retains 
the same impression of the feet. Near this lies an iron 
wheel, as high as a man's neck, having an entrance towards 
the west, with a great lamp hanging above it on a pulley, 
and burning night and day. In the western part of the 
same church are eight windows, and eight lamps, hanging 
opposite to them by cords, cast their light through the 
glass as far as Jerusalem ; this light is said to strike the 
hearts of the beholders with a sort of joy and humility. 
Every year, on the day of the Ascension, when mass is 
ended, a strong blast of wind is said to come down, and to 
cast to the ground all that are in the church. Concerning 
the situation of Hebron, and the tombs of the fathers, he 
writes thus. Hebron, once the city and metropolis of Da- 
vid's kingdom, now only showing what it was by its ruins, 
has, one furlong to the east of it, a double cave in the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 305 

valley, where the tombs of the patriarchs are enclosed with 
a square wall, their heads lying to the north. Each of the 
tombs is covered with a single stone, white, and worked like 
the stones of a church for three patriarchs. Adam's is of 
more mean and common workmanship, and lies not far 
from them at the farthest northern extremity. There are 
also some poorer and smaller monuments of three women. 
The hill Mamre is a thousand paces from the monuments, 
and is very full of grass and flowers, having a flat plain on 
the top. In the northern part of it, Abraham's oak, being 
a stump about twice as high as a man, is enclosed in a 
church. Thus much have we collected from the works of 
the aforesaid writer, keeping to the sense of his words, but 
more briefly delivered, and have thought fit to insert in our 
history. Whosoever desires to see more of the contents of 
that book, may see it either in the same, or in that which 
we have lately epitomized from it. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE SOUTH-SAXONS RECEIVED EADBERHT AND EOLLA, AND THE 
WEST-SAXONS, DANIEL AND ALDHELM, FOR THEIR BISHOPS. OF 
THE WRITINGS OF THE SAME ALDHELM. 

In the year of the incarnation of our Lord 

A. D. 705. 

705, Aldfrid, king of the Northumbrians, died 

just before the end of the twentieth year of his reign. His 

son Osred, a boy about eight years of age, succeeding him 

in the throne, reigned eleven years. In the beginning of 

his reign, Haeddi, bishop of the West-Saxons, departed to 

the heavenly kingdom ; for he was a good and just man, 

and exercised his episcopal duties rather by his innate love 

of virtue, than by what he had gained from learning. The 

most reverend prelate, Pecthelm, of whom we shall speak 



306 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

in the proper place, and who was a long time either deacon 
or monk with his successor Aldhelm, is wont to relate that 
many miraculous cures have been wrought in the place 
where he died, through the merit of his sanctity ; and that 
the men of that province used to carry the dust from thence 
for the sick, which, when they had put into water, the 
sprinkling or drinking thereof restored health to many sick 
men and beasts ; so that the holy earth being frequently 
carried away, there was a considerable hole left. Upon his 
death the bishopric of that province was divided into two 
dioceses. One of them was given to Daniel, which he 
governs to this day; the other to Aldhelm, wherein he 
most worthily presided four years ; both of them were well 
instructed as well in ecclesiastical affairs, as in the know- 
ledge of the Scriptures. Aldhelm, when he was only a priest 
and abbot of the monastery of Malmesbury, by order of a 
S}Tiod of his own nation, wrote a notable book against the 
error of the Britons, in not celebrating Easter at the proper 
time, and in doing several other things not consonant to 
the purity and the peace of the church ; and by the reading 
of this book he persuaded many of them who were subject 
to the West- Saxons, to adopt the Catholic celebration of 
our Lord's resurrection. He likewise wrote a notable book 
on virginity, which, in imitation of Sedulius, he composed 
double, that is, in hexameter verse and prose. He wrote 
some other books, as being a man most learned in all 
respects, for he had a clean style, and was, as I have said, 
wonderful for ecclesiastical and liberal erudition. On his 
death, Forthere was made bishop in his stead, and is living 
at this time^ being likewise a man very learned in Holy Writ. 
Whilst they were bishops, it was decreed in a synod, that 
the province of the South-Saxons, which till then belonged 
to the diocese of the city of Winchester, where Daniel then 
presided, should also have an episcopal see, and a bishop of 
its own. Eadberht, at that time abbot of the monastery 
of Bishop Wilfrid, of blessed memory, called Selsey, was 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 307 

consecrated their first bishop. On his death, Eolla suc- 
ceeded in the bishopric. He also died some years since, 
and the bishopric has been discontinued to this day. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



COINRED, KING OF THE MERCIANS, AND OFFA, OF THE EAST-SAXONS, 
ENDED THEIR DAYS AT ROME, IN THE MONASTIC HABIT. OF 
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF BISHOP WILFRID. 

In the fourth year of the reign of Osred, 
Coinred, who had for some time nobly governed 
the kingdom of the Mercians, did a much more noble act, by 
quitting the throne of his kingdom, and going to Rome, 
where being shorn, when Constantino was pope, and made 
a monk at the relics of the apostles, he continued to his 
last hour in prayers, fasting and almsdeeds. He was suc- 
ceeded in the throne by Ceolred, the son of Ethelred, who 
had been king before Coinred. With him w^ent the son of 
Sigher, king of the East-Saxons above-mentioned, whose 
name was OflPa, a youth of most lovely age and beauty, and 
most earnestly desired by all his nation to be their king. 
He, with like devotion, quitted his wife, lands, kindred and 
country, for Christ and for the Gospel, that " he might re- 
ceive an hundred-fold in this life, and in the world to come 
life everlasting." He also, when they came to the holy 
places at Rome, receiving the tonsure, and adopting a mo- 
nastic life, attained the long wished-for sight of the blessed 
apostles in heaven. The same year that they departed from 
Britain, the celebrated prelate, Wilfrid, died in the province 
of Inundalum, after he had been bishop forty-five years. 
His body being laid in a coffin, was carried to his monas- 
tery, called Inrhypum, and there buried in the church of 
the blessed apostle Peter, with the honour due to so great 

x2 



308 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

a prelate. We will now turn back, and briefly mention 
some particulars of his life. Being a boy of a good dispo- 
sition, and behaving himself worthily at that age, he con- 
ducted himself so modestly and discreetly in all respects, 
that he was deservedly beloved, respected and cherished by 
his elders as one of themselves. At fourteen years of age 
he preferred the monastic to the secular life ; which, when 
he had signified to his father, for his mother was dead, he 
readily consented to his heavenly wishes, and advised him 
to persist in his holy resolution. Accordingly he came to 
the isle of Lindisfarne, and there giving himself up to the 
service of the monks, he took care diligently to learn and 
to perform those things which belong to monastic purity 
and piety; and being of an acute understanding, he in a 
very short time learned the psalms and some books, before 
he was shorn, but when he was already become very re- 
markable for the greater virtues of humility and obedience ; 
for which he was deservedly beloved and respected by his 
equals and elders. Having served God some years in that 
monastery, and being a clear-sighted youth, he observed 
that the way to virtue taught by the Scots was not perfect, 
and he resolved to go to Rome, to see what ecclesiastical or 
monastic rites were in use there. The brethren being made 
acquainted therewith, commended his design, and advised 
him to put it into execution. He then repaired to Queen 
Eanfled, to whom he was well known, and who had got him 
into that monastery by her advice and assistance, and 
acquainted her that he was desirous to visit the churches 
of the apostles. She, being pleased with the youth's reso- 
lution, sent him into Kent, to King Earconbert, who was 
her uncle's son, requesting that he would send him to 
Rome in an honourable manner. At that time, Honorius, 
one of the disciples of the holy Pope Gregory, and well in- 
structed in ecclesiastical institutes, was archbishop there. 
Whilst he made some stay there, and being a youth of an 
active spirit, diligently applied himself to learn those things 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 309 

which he undertook ; another youth, called Biscop, or 
otherwise Benedict, of the English nobility, arrived there, 
being likewise desirous to go to Rome, of which we have 
before made mention. The king gave him Wilfrid for a 
companion, with orders to conduct him to Rome. When 
they came to Lyons, Wilfrid was detained there by Dalphin, 
the bishop of that city ; but Benedict hastened on to 
Rome. That prelate was delighted with the youth's pru- 
dent discourse, the gracefulness of his aspect, the alacrity 
of his behaviour, and the sedateness and gravity of his 
thoughts ; for which reason he plentifully supplied him and 
his companions with all necessaries, as long as they stayed 
with him ; and further offered to commit to him the go- 
vernment of a considerable part of France, to give him a 
maiden daughter of his own brother to wife, and to receive 
him as his adopted son. He returned thanks for the favour, 
which he was pleased to show to a stranger, and answered, 
that he had resolved upon another course of life, and for 
that reason had left his country and set out for Rome. 
Hereupon the bishop sent him to Rome, furnishing him 
with a guide and plenty of all things requisite for his jour- 
ney, earnestly requesting that he would come that way 
when he returned into his own country. Wilfrid arriving 
at Rome, by constantly applying himself to prayer and the 
study of ecclesiastical affairs, as he had before proposed to 
himself, gained the friendship of the most holy and learned 
Boniface, the archdeacon, who was also counsellor to the 
pope, by whose instruction he regularly learned the four 
gospels, the true calculation of Easter, and many other 
things appertaining to ecclesiastical discipline, which he 
could not attain in his own country. When he had spent 
some months there, in successful study, he returned into 
France, to Dalphin; and having stayed with him three 
years, received from him the tonsure, and was so much be- 
loved that he had thoughts of making him his heir; but 
this was prevented by the bishop's vmtimely death, and 



310 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

Wilfrid was reserved to be bishop of his own, that is, the 
English nation ; for Queen Balthild sent soldiers with 
orders to put the bishop to death ; whom Wilfrid, his clerk, 
attended to the place where he was to be beheaded, being 
very desirous, though the bishop opposed it, to die with 
him; but the executioners understanding that he was a 
stranger, and of the English nation, spared him, and would 
not put him to death with his bishop. Returning to 
England, he was admitted to the friendship of King A Idfrid, 
who had always followed the catholic rules of the Church ; 
and therefore finding him to be a catholic, he gave him 
land of ten families, at the place called Stanford ; and not 
long after, the monastery, of thirty families, at the place 
called Inhrypum; which place he had lately given to those 
that followed the doctrine of the Scots, to build a monas- 
tery upon. But, forasmuch as they afterwards, being left 
to their choice, would rather quit the place than adopt the 
catholic Easter, and other canonical rites, according to the 
custom of the Roman Apostolic Church, he gave the same 
to him, whom he found to follow better discipline and better 
customs. At the same time, by the said king's command, 
he was ordained priest in the same monastery, by Agilberht, 
bishop of the West-Saxons above-mentioned, the king 
being desirous that a man of so much piety and learning 
should continue with him as priest and teacher; and not 
long after, having discovered and banished the Scottish sect, 
as was said above, he, with the advice and consent of his 
father Oswy, sent him into France, to be consecrated 
bishop, at about thirty years of age, the same Agilberht 
being then bishop of Paris, and eleven other bishops meet- 
ing at the consecration of the new bishop, that function 
was most honourably performed. Whilst he was yet beyond 
the sea, Ceadda, a holy man, was consecrated bishop of 
York, by command of King Oswy, as has been said above ; 
and having ably ruled that church three years, he retired 
to govern his monastery of Lestingae, and Wilfrid was made 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 311 

bishop of all the province of the Northumbrians. After- 
wards, in the reign of Ecgfrid, he was expelled his bishopric, 
and others were consecrated bishops in his stead, of whom 
mention has been made above. Designing to go to Rome, 
to answer for himself before the pope, when he was aboard 
the ship, the wind blowing hard west, he was driven into 
Friseland, and honourably received by that barbarous people 
and their King Aldgist, to whom he preached Christ, and 
instructed many thousands of them in the word of truth, 
washing them from their abominations in the laver of sal- 
vation. Thus he there began the work of the Gospel, which 
was afterwards finished by Wilbrod, a most reverend bishop 
of Jesus Christ. Having spent the winter there with his 
new converts, he set out again on his way to Rome, where 
his cause being tried before Pope Agatho and several 
bishops, he was, by their universal consent, acquitted of 
what had been laid to his charge, and declared worthy of 
his bishopric. At the same time, the said Pope Agatho 
assembling a synod at Rome, of one hundred and twenty- 
five bishops, against those that taught there was only one 
will and operation in our Lord and Saviour, ordered Wilfrid 
also to be summoned, and, when seated among the bishops, 
to declare his own faith and the faith of the province or 
island from whence he came ; and they being found ortho- 
dox in their faith, it was thought fit to record the same 
among the acts of that synod, which was done in this man- 
ner : " Wilfrid, the beloved of God, bishop of the city of 
York, having referred to the Apostolic See, and being by 
that authority acquitted of every thing, whether specified 
against him or not, and having taken his seat in judgment, 
with one hundred and twenty-five other bishops in the 
synod, made confession of the true and catholic faith, and 
subscribed the same in the name of all the northern part of 
Britain and Ireland, inhabited by the English and Britons, 
as also by the Scots and Picts." After this, returning into 
Britain, he converted the province of the South-Saxons 



312 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

from their idolatrous worship. He also sent ministers to 
the isle of Wight ; and in the second year of Aldfrid, who 
reigned after Ecgfrid, was restored to his see and bishopric 
by that king's invitation. However, five years after, being 
again accused by that same king and several bishops, he 
was again expelled his diocese. Coming to Rome, together 
with his accusers, and being allowed to make his defence 
before a number of bishops and the apostolic Pope John, it 
was declared by the unanimous judgment of them all, that 
his accusers had in part laid false accusations to his charge; 
and the aforesaid pope undertook to write to the kings of 
the English, Ethilred and Aldfrid, to cause him to be re- 
stored to his bishopric, because he had been falsely accused. 
His acquittal was much forwarded by the reading of the 
synod of Pope Agatho, of blessed memory, which had been 
formerly held when Wilfrid was in Rome, and sat in council 
among the bishops, as has been said before. For that synod 
being, on account of the trial, by order of the apostolic 
pope, read before the nobility and a great number of the 
people, they, for some days, came to the place where it was 
written, " Wilfrid, the beloved of God, bishop of the city of 
York, having referred his cause to the Apostolic See, and 
being by that power cleared," &c., as above stated. This 
being read, the hearers were amazed, and the reader stop- 
ping, they began to ask of one another, who that Bishop 
Wilfrid was? Then Boniface, the pope's counsellor, and 
many others, who had seen him there in the days of Pope 
Agatho, said, he was the same bishop that lately came to 
Rome, to be tried by the Apostolic See, being accused by 
his people, and who, said they, having long since been here 
upon such like accusation, the cause and controversy be- 
tween both parties being heard and discussed, was proved 
by Pope Agatho, of blessed memory, to have been wrong- 
fully expelled from his bishopric, and so much honoured 
by him, that he commanded him to sit in the council of 
bishops which he had assembled, as a man of untainted 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 313 

faith and an upright mind. This being heard, the pope 
and all the rest said, that a man of such great authority, 
who had exercised the episcopal function near forty years, 
ought not to be condemned, but being cleared of all the 
crimes laid to his charge, to return home with honour. 
Passing through France, on his way back to Britain, on a 
sudden he fell sick, and the distemper increasing, was so 
ill, that he could not ride, but was carried in his bed. 
Being thus come to the city of Meaux, in France, he lay 
four days and nights as if he had been dead, and only by 
his faint breathing showed that he had any life in him ; 
having continued so four days, without meat or drink, 
speaking or hearing, he, at length, on the fifth day, in the 
morning, as it were awakening out of a dead sleep, sat up 
in the bed, and opening his eyes, saw numbers of brethren 
singing and weeping about him, and fetching a sigh, asked 
where Acca, the priest, was ? This man, being called, im- 
mediately came in, and seeing him thus recovered and able 
to speak, knelt down, and returned thanks to God, with all 
the brethren there present. When they had sat awhile, 
and begun to discourse, with much reverence, on the 
heavenly judgments, the bishop ordered the rest to go out 
for an hour, and spoke to the priest, Acca, in this manner : 
" A dreadful vision has now appeared to me, which I wish 
you to hear and keep secret, till I know how God will 
please to dispose of me. There stood by me a certain 
person, remarkable for his white garments, telling me he 
was Michael, the archangel, and said, ' I am sent to save 
you from death ; for the Lord has granted you life, through 
the prayers and tears of your disciples, and the intercession 
of his blessed mother Mary, of perpetual virginity ; where- 
fore I tell you, that you shall now recover from this sick- 
ness ; but be ready, for I will return to visit you at the 
end of four years. But when you come into your country, 
you shall recover most of the possessions that have been 
taken from you, and shall end your days in perfect peace.'" 



314 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

The bishop accordingly recovered, at which all persons re- 
joiced, and gave thanks to God, and setting forward on his 
journey, arrived in Britain. Having read the letters which 
he brought from the apostolic pope, Berthwald, the arch- 
bishop, and Ethelred, who had been formerly king, but was 
then an abbot, readily took his part ; for the said Ethelred, 
calling to him Coinred, whom he had made king in his own 
stead, he requested of him to be friends with Wilfrid, in 
which request he prevailed ; but Aldfrid, king of the 
Northumbrians, refused to admit him, but died soon after. 
His son, Osred, then coming to the crown, and a synod 
being assembled, near the river Nidd, after some contesting 
on both sides, at length, by the consent of all, he was ad- 
mitted to preside over his church ; and thus he lived in 
peace four years, till the day of his death. He died on the 
4th of the ides of October, in his monastery, which he had 
in the province of Undalum, under the government of the 
Abbot Cudbald ; and by the ministry of the brethren, he 
was carried to his first monastery of Inhrypum, and buried 
in the church of Saint Peter the Apostle, close by the south 
end of the altar, as has been mentioned above, with this 
epitaph over him : 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Wilfridus hie magnus requiescit corpore Prsesul ; 
Hanc domino qui aulam, ductus pietatis amore. 
Fecit, et eximio sacravit nomine Petri, 
Cui claves coeli Christus dedit arbiter orbis ; 
Atque auro, ac Tyrio devotus vestiit ostro. 
Quin etiam sublime crucis, radiante raetallo. 
Hie posuit trophseum, nee non et quatuor auro 
Scribi evangelii prsecepit in ordine libros. 
Ac thecam e rutilo his condignam condidit auro, 
Paschalis qui etiam solemnia tempora cursus, 
Catholici ad justum correxit dogma canonis, 
Quern statuere patres, dubioque errore remoto, 
Certa suse genti ostendit moderamina ritus. 
Inque locis istis monachorum examina crebra 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 315 

Colligit, ac monitis cavit quae regula patrum 
Sedulus instituit, multisque domique, forisque 
Jactatus nimium per tempora longa periclis, 
Quindecies ternos postquam egit episcopus annos, 
Transiit, et gaudens coelestia regna petivit. 
Dona Jesu ut grex pastoris calle sequatur. 

Here the great prelate Wilfrid lies entomb'd. 

Who, led by piety, this temple rear'd 

To God, and hallow'd with blest Peter's name. 

To whom our Lord the keys of heaven consign'd. 

Moreover gold and purple vestments gave. 

And plac'd a cross, — a trophy shining bright 

With richest ore — four books o'erwrought with gold. 

Sacred evangelists in order plac'd. 

And (suited well to these") a desk he rear'd, 

(Highly conspicuous) cas'd with ruddy gold. 

He likewise brought the time of Easter right. 

To the just standard of the canon law. 

Which our forefathers fixed and well observ'd. 

But long by error chang'd, he justly plac'd. 

Into these parts a numerous swarm of monks 

He brought, and strictly taught their founder's rules. 

In lapse of years, by many dangers tossed. 

At home by discords, and in foreign realms. 

Having sat bishop five and forty years. 

He died, and joyful sought the realms above ; 

That, blessed by Christ, and favour'd with his aid. 

The flock may follow in their pastor's path. 



CHAPTER XXL 



ALBINUS SUCCEEDED TO THE RELIGIOUS ABBOT ADRIAN, AND ACCA 
TO BISHOP WILFRID. 

The next year after the death of the aforesaid 
A. D. 710 

father (Wilfrid), that is, in the first year of 

King Osred, the most reverend father, Abbot Adrian, 

fellow-labourer in the word of God with Theodore the arch- 



316 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

bishop, of blessed memory, died, and was buried in the 
church of the blessed Mother of God, in his own monastery, 
this being the forty-first year from his being sent by Pope 
Vitalian with Theodore, and the thirty-ninth after his 
arrival in England. Of whose learning, as well as that of 
Theodore, one testimony among others is, that Albinus, his 
disciple, who succeeded him in the government of his mo- 
nastery, was so well instructed in the study of the Scriptures, 
that he knew the Greek tongue to no small perfection, and 
the Latin as thoroughly as the English, which was his 
native language. Acca, his priest, succeeded Wilfrid in 
the bishopric of the church of Hagulstad ; being himself 
a most active man, and great in the sight of God and man, 
he much adorned and added to the structure of his church, 
which is dedicated to the apostle St. Andrew. For he 
made it his business, and does so still, to procure relics of 
the blessed apostles and martyrs of Christ from all parts, to 
place them on altars, dividing the same by arches in the 
walls of the church. Besides which, he diligently gathered 
the histories of their sufferings, together with other eccle- 
siastical writings, and erected there a most numerous and 
noble library. He likewise industriously provided holy 
vessels, lights, and such like things as appertain to the 
adorning of the house of God. He in like manner invited 
to him a celebrated singer, called Mafan, who had been 
taught to sing by the successors of the disciples of the 
blessed Gregory, in Kent, for him to instruct himself and 
his clergy, and kept him twelve years, to teach such eccle- 
siastical songs as were not known, and to restore those to 
their former state which were corrupted either by want of 
use, or through neglect. For Bishop Acca himself was a 
most expert singer, as well as most learned in holy writ, 
most pure in the confession of the Catholic faith, and most 
observant in the rules of ecclesiastical institution ; nor did 
he ever cease to be so till he received the rewards of his 
pious devotion, having been bred up and instructed among 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 317 

the clergy of the most holy and beloved of God, Bosa, 
bishop of York. Afterwards, coming to Bishop Wilfrid in 
hopes of improving himself, he spent the rest of his life 
under him till that bishop's death, and going with him to 
Rome, learned there many profitable things concerning the 
government of the holy Church, which he could not have 
learned in his own country. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

ABBOT CEOLFKID SENT THE KING OF THE PICTS ARCHITECTS TO 
BUILD A CHURCH, AND WITH THEM AN EPISTLE CONCERNING 
THE CATHOLIC EASTER AND TONSURE. 

At that time Naiton, king of the Picts, inhabiting the 
northern parts of Britain, taught by frequent meditation 
on the ecclesiastical wTitings, renounced the error which he 
and his nation had till then been under, in relation to the 
observance of Easter, and submitted, together with his 
people, to celebrate the Catholic time of our Lord's resur- 
rection. For performing this with the more ease and 
greater authority, he sought assistance from the English, 
whom he knew to have long since formed their religion 
after the example of the holy Roman Apostolic Church, 
Accordingly he sent messengers to the venerable Ceolfrid, 
abbot of the monastery of the blessed apostles, Peter and 
Paul, which stands at the mouth of the river Wire, and 
near the river Tyne, at the place called Gyrthum, which he 
gloriously governed after Benedict, of whom we have before 
spoken ; desiring, that he would write him a letter contain- 
ing arguments, by the help of which he might the better 
confute those that presumed to keep Easter out of the due 
time ; as also concerning the form and manner of tonsure 
for distinguishing the clergy ; not to mention that he him- 



318 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

self possessed much information in these particulars. He 
also prayed to have architects sent him to build a church 
in his nation after the Roman manner, promising to dedi- 
cate the same in honour of St. Peter, the prince of the 
apostles, and that he and all his people would always follow 
the custom of the holy Roman Apostolic Church, as far as 
their remoteness from the Roman language and nation 
would allow. The reverend Abbot Ceolfrid complying with 
his desires and request, sent the architects he desired, and 
the following letter : — 

" To the most excellent lord, and most glorious King 
Naiton, Abbot Ceolfrid gi^eeting in the Lord. We most 
readily and willingly endeavour, according to your desire, 
to explain to you the catholic observance of holy Easter, 
according to what we have learned of the Apostolic See, as 
you, devout king, with a religious intention, have requested ; 
for we know, that whenever the Church applies itself to 
learn, to teach, and to assert the truth, which are the affairs 
of our Lord, the same is given to it from heaven. For a 
certain worldly writer most truly said, that the world would 
be most happy if either kings were philosophers, or philo- 
sophers were kings. For if a worldly man could judge 
truly of the philosophy of this world, and form a correct 
choice concerning the state of this world, how much more 
is it to be wished, and most earnestly to be prayed for by 
the citizens of the heavenly country, who are travelling 
through this world, that the more powerful any persons are 
in this world, the more they may labour to be acquainted 
with the commands of Him who is the Supreme Judge, and 
by their example and authority may induce those that are 
committed to their charge, as well as themselves, to keep 
the same. There are three rules in the Sacred Writings, on 
account of which it is not lawful for any human authority 
to change the time of keeping Easter, which has been pre- 
scribed to us ; two whereof are divinely established in the 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 319 

law of Moses ; the third is added in the Gospel by means 
of the passion and resurrection of our Lord. For the law 
enjoined, that the Passover should be kept in the first 
month of the year, and the third week of that month, that 
is, from the fifteenth day to the one-and-twentieth. It is 
added, by apostolic institution, in the Gospel, that we are 
to wait for our Lord's day in that third week, and to keep 
the beginning of the Paschal time on the same. Which 
threefold rule whosoever shall rightly observe, will never 
err in fixing the Paschal feast. But if you desire to be 
more plainly and fully informed in all these particulars, it 
is written in Exodus, where the people of Israel, being 
about to be delivered out of Egypt, are commanded to keep 
the first Passover, that the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 
' This month shall be unto you the beginning of months ; it 
shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto 
all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of 
this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, 
according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house.' 
And a little lower, * And ye shall keep it until the four- 
teenth day of the same month ; and the whole assembly of 
the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.' By 
which words it most plainly appears, that thus in the Pas- 
chal observance mention is made of the fourteenth day, not 
that the Passover is commanded to be kept on that day ; 
but the lamb is commanded to be killed on the evening 
of the fourteenth day ; that is, on the fifteenth day of 
the moon, which is the beginning of the third week, 
when the moon appears in the sky. And because it was on 
the night of the fifteenth moon, when by the slaughter of 
the Egyptians, Israel was redeemed from a long captivity, 
therefore it is said, ' Seven days shall ye eat unleavened 
bread.' By which words all the third week of the same 
month is decreed to be kept solemn. But lest we should 
think that those same seven days were to be reckoned from 
the fourteenth to the twentieth, God immediately adds, 



320 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

' Even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your 
houses ; for whosoever eateth leavened bread, from the first 
day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from 
Israel;' and so on, till he says, ' For in this self-same day 
I will bring your army out of the land of Egypt.' Thus he 
calls that the first day of unleavened bread in which he was 
to bring their army out of Egj^t. But it is evident, that 
they were not brought out of Egypt on the fourteenth day, 
in the evening whereof the lamb was killed, and which is 
properly called the Passover or Phase, but on the fifteenth 
day, as is most plainly T^Titten in the book of Numbers. 
* Departing therefore from Ramesse on the fifteenth day 
of the first month, the next day the Israelites kept the 
Passover with an high hand.' Thus the seven days of un- 
leavened bread, on the first whereof the people of God were 
brought out of Egypt, are to be reckoned from the begin- 
ning of the thu'd week, as has been said, that is, from the 
fourteenth day of the first month, till the one-and-twentieth 
of the same month, that day included. But the fourteenth 
day is noted down separately from this number, by the 
name of the Passover, as is plainly made out by what follows 
in Exodus ; where when it is said, ' For in this same day I 
will bring your army out of the land of Egypt ;' it is pre- 
sently added, ' You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance 
for ever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the 
month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one- 
and-twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall 
there be no leaven found in yom- houses.' Now, who is 
there that does not perceive, that there are not only seven 
days, but rather eight from the fourteenth to the one-and- 
twentieth, if the fourteenth be also reckoned in the number ? 
But if, as by diligent study of Scripture appears to be the 
truth, w^e reckon from the evening of the fourteenth day to 
the evening of the one-and-twentieth, we shall certainly find, 
that the same fourteenth day gives its evening for the 
beginning of the Paschal feast ; so that the sacred solemnity 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 321 

contains no more than only seven nights and as many days. 
By which our definition is proved to be true, wherein we 
said, that the Paschal time is to be celebrated in the first 
month of the year, and the third week of the same. For 
it is really the third week, because it begins on the evening 
of the fourteenth day, and ends on the evening of the one- 
and-twentieth. But since Christ our Paschal lamb is slain, 
and has made the Lord's day, which among the ancients 
was called the first after the Sabbath, a solemn day to us 
for the joy of his resurrection, the apostolic tradition has so 
inserted it into the Paschal festivals as to decree, that no- 
thing in the least be anticipated, or detracted from the 
time of the legal Passover; but rather ordains, that the 
same first month should be waited for, pursuant to the pre- 
cept of the law, and accordingly the fourteenth day of the 
same, and the evening thereof. And when this day should 
happen to fall on the Sabbath, every one in his family 
should take a lamb, and kill it in the evening, that is, that 
all the churches throughout the world, composing one ca- 
tholic church, should provide bread and wine for the mystery 
of the flesh and blood of the unspotted Lamb 'that took 
away the sins of the world ; ' and after the solemnity of 
reading the lessons and prayers of the Paschal ceremonies, 
they should offer up these things to the Lord, in hopes of 
future redemption. For that same night in which the 
people of Israel were delivered out of Egypt by the blood 
of the lamb, is the very same in which all the people of 
God were, by Christ's resurrection, delivered from eternal 
death. Then, on the morning of the Lord's day, they 
should celebrate the first day of the Paschal festival ; for 
that is the day on which our Lord, with much joy of pious 
revelation, made known the glory of his resurrection. The 
same is the first day of unleavened bread, concerning which 
it is distinctly written in Leviticus, ' In the fourteenth day 
of the first month, at even, is the Lord's Passover. And 
on the fifteenth day of the same month, is the feast of un- 

Y 



322 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

leavened bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat 
unleavened bread ; the first day shall be most solemn and 
holy.' If therefore it could be that the Lord's day should 
always happen on the fifteenth day of the first month, that 
is, on the fifteenth moon, we might always celebrate Easter 
at the very same time with the ancient people of God, 
though the nature of the mystery be different, as we do it 
with one and the same faith. But in regard that the day 
of the week does not keep pace exactly with the moon, the 
apostolical tradition, which w^as preached at Rome, by 
St. Peter, and confirmed at Alexandria, by Mark the 
Evangelist, his interpreter, appointed that when the first 
month was come, and in it the evening of the fourteenth 
day, we should also wait for the Lord's day, which falls 
between the fifteenth and the one-and-twentieth day of the 
same month. For on whichever of those days it shall fall, 
Easter will be properly kept on the same ; as it is one of 
those seven days on which the unleavened bread is ordered 
to be kept. Thus it comes to pass that our Easter never 
deviates from the third week of the first month, but either 
observes the whole, or at least some of the 'seven legal days 
of unleavened bread. For though it takes in but one of 
them, that is, the seventh, which the Scripture so highly 
commends, saying, ' But the seventh day shall be more 
solemn and holy, ye shall do no servile work therein,' none 
can lay it to our charge, that we do not rightly keep our 
Lord's Paschal day, which we received from the Gospel, in 
the third week of the first month, as the law prescribes. 
The catholic reason of this observance being thus ex- 
plained ; the unreasonable error, on the other hand, of those 
who, without any necessity, presume either to anticipate, 
or to go beyond the term prescribed in the law, is manifest. 
For they that think the Lord's day of Easter is to be ob- 
served from the fourteenth day of the first month till the 
twentieth moon, anticipate the time prescribed in the law, 
without any necessary reason ; for when they begin to 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 323 

celebrate the vigil of the holy night from the evening of 
the thirteenth day, it is plain that they make that day the 
beginning of their Easter, whereof they find no mention in 
the law; and when they refuse to celebrate our Lord's 
Easter on the one-and-twentieth day of the month, they 
wholly exclude that day from their solemnity, which the law 
often recommends as memorable for the greater festival ; 
and thus, perverting the proper order, they place Easter 
day in the second week, and sometimes keep it entirely in 
the same, and never bring it to the seventh day of the third 
week. And again, because they rather think that Easter 
is to be kept on the sixteenth day of the said month, and 
so to the two-and-twentieth, they no less erroneously, 
though the contrary way, deviate from the right way of 
truth, and as it were avoiding to be shipwrecked on Scylla, 
they run on and are drowned in the whirlpool of Charybdis. 
For when they teach that Easter is to be begun at the 
rising of the sixteenth moon of the first month, that is, 
from the evening of the fifteenth day, it is manifest that 
they altogether exclude from their solemnity the fourteenth 
day of the same month, which the law firstly and chiefly 
recommends ; so that they scarcely touch upon the evening 
of the fifteenth day, on which the people of God were 
delivered from the Egyptian servitude, and on which our 
Lord, by his blood, rescued the world from the darkness of 
sin, and on which being also buried, he gave us hopes of a 
blessed repose after death. And the same persons, taking 
upon themselves the penalty of their error, when they place 
the Lord's day of Easter on the twenty-second day of the 
month, openly transgress and exceed the legal term of 
Easter, as beginning the Easter on the evening of that day 
in which the law appointed it to be finished and completed; 
and appoint that to be the first day of Easter, whereof no 
mention is any where found in the law, viz. the first of the 
fourth week. And they are sometimes mistaken, not only 
in defining and computing the moon's age, but also in find- 

y2 



324 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

ing the first month ; but this controversy is longer than 
can or ought to be contained in this letter. I will only say 
thus much, that by the vernal equinox, it may always be 
found without the chance of an error, which is the first 
month of the year, according to the lunar calculation, and 
which the last. But the equinox, according to the opinion 
of all the Eastern nations, and particularly of the Egyptians, 
who exceed all other learned men in that calculation, 
usually happens on the twelfth day of the kalends of April, 
as we also prove by horological inspection. Whatever 
moon therefore is at the full before the equinox, being on 
the fourteenth or fifteenth day, the same belongs to the 
last month of the foregoing year, and consequently is not 
proper for the celebration of Easter ; but that moon which 
is full after the equinox, or on the very equinox, belongs to 
the first month, and in it, without a doubt, the ancients 
were wont to celebrate the Passover, and we also ought to 
keep Easter when the Sunday comes. And that this must 
be so, there is this cogent reason, because it is written in 
Genesis, that ' God made two lights ; a greater light to 
rule the day, and a lesser light to rule the night.' Or, as 
another edition has it, ' A greater light to begin the day, 
and a lesser to begin the night.' The sun, therefore, pro- 
ceeding from the midst of the east, fixed the vernal equinox 
by his rising, and afterwards the moon, when the sun set 
in the evening, followed full from the midst of the east ; 
thus every year the same first month of the moon must be 
observed in the like order, so that the full moon must be 
either on the very day of the equinox, as was done from 
the beginning, or after it is gone by. But if the full of the 
moon shall happen to be but one day before the time of the 
equinox, the aforesaid reason proves that such moon is not 
to be assigned to the first month of the new year, but 
rather to the last of the preceding, and that it is therefore 
not proper for the celebration of the Paschal festival. Now 
if it will please you likewise to hear the mystical reason in 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 325 

this matter, we are commanded to keep Easter in the first 
month of the year, which is also called the month of the 
new fruit, because we are to celebrate the mysteries of our 
Lord's resurrection and our deliverance, with our minds 
renewed to the love of heavenly things. We are com- 
manded to keep it in the third week of the same month, 
because Christ, who had been promised before the law, and 
under the law, came with grace, in the third age of the 
world, to be slain as our Passover ; and rising from the 
dead the third day after the offering of his passion, he 
wished this to be called the Lord's day, and the festival of 
his resurrection to be yearly celebrated on the same. For 
we also, in this manner, only can truly celebrate his so- 
lemnity, if we take care with him to keep the Passover, 
that is, the passage out of this world to the Father, by 
faith, hope and charity. We are commanded to observe 
the full moon of the Paschal month after the vernal equi- 
nox, to the end, that the sun may first make the day longer 
than the night, and then the moon may afford the world 
her full orb of light ; inasmuch as first ' the sun of righte- 
ousness, in whose wings is salvation,' that is, our Lord 
Jesus, by the triumph of his resurrection, dispelled all the 
darkness of death, and so ascending into heaven, filled his 
Church, which is often signified by the name of the moon, 
with the light of inward grace, by sending down upon her 
his Spirit. Which plan of salvation the prophet had in his 
mind, when he said, ' The sun was exalted and the moon 
stood in her order.' He, therefore, who shall contend that 
the full Paschal moon can happen before the equinox, de- 
viates from the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, in the 
celebration of the greatest mysteries, and agrees with those 
who confide that they may be saved without the grace of 
Christ forerunning them ; and who presume to teach that 
they might have attained to perfect righteousness, though 
the true light had never vanquished the darkness of the 
world, by dying and rising again. Thus, after the equinoc- 



326 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

tial rising of the sun, and after the subsequent full moon of 
the first month, that is, after the end of the fourteenth day 
of the same month, all which, according to the law, ought 
to be observed, we still, by the instruction of the Gospel, 
wait in the third week for the Lord's day; and thus, at 
length, we celebrate our due Easter solemnity, to show that 
we do not, with the ancients, honour the shaking off of the 
Egyptian yoke ; but that, with devout faith and affection, 
we worship the redemption of the whole world ; which 
having been prefigured in the deliverance of God's ancient 
people, was completed in Christ's resurrection, to make it 
appear that we rejoice in the sure and certain hope of the 
day of our own resurrection, which we believe will happen 
on the same Lord's day. Now this calculation of Easter, 
which we show you is to be followed, is contained in a 
circle or revolution of nineteen years, which began long 
since, that is, in the very times of the apostles, especially at 
Rome and in Egypt, as has been said above. But by the 
industry of Eusebius, w^ho took his surname from the blessed 
martyr Pamphilus, it was reduced to a plainer system; 
insomuch that what till then used to be sent about to all 
the several churches by the patriarch of Alexandria, might, 
from that time forward, be most easily known by all men, 
the course of the fourteenth day of the moon being re- 
gularly ordered. This Paschal calculation, Theophilus, 
patriarch of Alexandria, composed for the Emperor Theo- 
dosius, for a hundred years to come. Cyril also, his suc- 
cessor, comprised a series of ninety-five years in five revo- 
lutions of nineteen years. After whom, Dionysius Exiguus 
added as many more, in the same manner, reaching down 
to our own time. The expiration of these is now drawing 
near, but there is so great a number of calculators, that 
even in our churches throughout Britain, there are many 
who, having learned the ancient rules of the Egyptians, 
can with great ease carry on those revolutions of the 
Paschal times for any distant number of years, even to five 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 327 

hundred and thirty- two years, if they will; after the expi- 
ration of which, all that belongs to the question of the sun 
and moon, of month and week, returns in the same order 
as before. We therefore forbear to send you those revo- 
lutions of the times to come, because you only desired to 
be instructed respecting the Paschal time, and declared you 
had enough of those catholic tables concerning Easter ; but 
having said so much briefly and succinctly, as you required 
concerning Easter, I also exhort you to take care to pro- 
mote the tonsure, as ecclesiastical and agTeeable to the 
Christian faith, for concerning that also you desired me to 
write to you ; and we know indeed that the apostles were 
not all shorn after the same manner, nor does the Catholic 
Church, though it agrees in the same Divine faith, hope 
and charity, agree in the same form of tonsure throughout 
the world : in fine, to look back to remote times, that is, 
the times of the patriarchs, Job, the example of patience, 
when, on the approach of tribulation, he shaved his head, 
made it appear that he had used, in time of prosperity, to 
let his hair grow; and Joseph, the great practiser and 
teacher of chastity, humility, piety, and other virtues, is 
found to have been shorn when delivered from servitude ; 
by which it appears, that during the time of servitude, he 
was in the prison without cutting his hair. Now you may 
observe how each of these men of God differed in the man- 
ner of their appearance abroad, though their inward con- 
sciences were alike influenced by the grace of virtue. But 
if we may be allowed to speak our thoughts, the difference 
of tonsure is not hurtful to those whose faith is pure to- 
wards God, and their charity sincere towards their neigh- 
bour, especially since we do not read that there ever was 
any controversy among the Catholic fathers about the 
difference of tonsure, as there has been about the difference 
in keeping Easter, or in matters of faith. However, 
among all the tonsures that are to be found in the Church, 
or among mankind at large, I think none more worthy of 



328 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

being followed than that which that disciple had on his 
head, to whom, on his confession, our Lord said, ' Thou 
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and 
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and to thee 
I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven.' Nor do I 
think any more worthy to be abhorred and detested, by all 
the faithful, than that which that man used, to whom Peter, 
when he would have bought the grace of the Holy Ghost, 
said, 'Thy money be with thee to perdition, because you 
thought the gift of God to be purchased for money ; there is 
no part or lot for you in this speech. Nor do we shave our- 
selves in the form of a crown only because Peter was so 
shorn ; but because Peter was so shorn in memory of the 
passion of our Lord ; therefore we also, who desire to be 
saved by the same passion, do with him bear the sign of the 
same passion on the top of our head, which is the highest 
part of our body. For as all the Church, because it was made 
a church by the death of Him that gave it life, is wont to 
bear the sign of his holy cross on the forehead, to the end, 
that it may, by the constant protection of his sign, be 
defended from the assaults of evil spirits, and by the fre- 
quent admonition of the same be instructed, in like manner, 
to crucify its flesh with its vices and concupiscences; so 
also it behoves those, who have either taken the vows of 
monks, or have any degree among the clergy, to curb them- 
selves the more strictly by continence. Every one of them 
is likewise to bear on his head, by means of the tonsure, the 
form of the crown which Christ in his passion bore of 
thorns, in order that Christ may bear the thorns and briars 
of our sins ; that is, that he may remove and take them 
from us ; and also that they may at once show that they, 
willingly, and with a ready mind, endure scofis and re- 
proaches for his sake ; to make it appear, that they always 
expect ' the crown of eternal life, which God has promised 
to those that love him,' and that for the gaining thereof 
they despise both the adversities and the prosperities of 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 329 

this world. But as for the tonsure which Simon Magus is 
said to have used, what Christian will not immediately 
detest and cast it off together with his magic ? Upon the 
top of the forehead, it does seem indeed to resemble a 
crown ; but when you come to the neck, you will find the 
crown you thought you had seen so perfect cut short ; so 
that you may be satisfied such a distinction properly be- 
longs not to Christians but to Simoniacs, such as were 
indeed in this life thought worthy of a perpetual crown of 
glory by erring men ; but in that life which is to follow 
this, are not only deprived of all hopes of a crown, but are 
moreover condemned to eternal punishment. But do not 
think that I have said thus much, as judging those who use 
this tonsure, are to be damned, in case they favour the 
catholic unity in faith and actions ; on the contrary, I con- 
fidently declare, that many of them have been holy and 
worthy of God. Of which number is Adamannus, the 
abbot and renowned priest of Columb, who, when sent 
ambassador by his nation to King Aldfrid, came to see our 
monastery, and discovering wonderful wisdom, humility, 
and religion in his words and behaviour, among other 
things, I said to him in discourse, ' I beseech you, holy 
brother, who think you are advancing to the crown of life, 
which knows no period, why do you, contrary to the habit 
of your faith, wear on your head a crown that is terminated, 
or bounded ? And if you aim at the society of St. Peter, 
why do you imitate the tonsure of him whom St. Peter 
anathematized ; and why do you not rather even now show 
that you imitate to your utmost the habit of him with 
whom you desire to live happy for ever.' He answered, 
' Be assured, my dear brother, that though I have Simon's 
tonsure, according to the custom of my country, yet I 
utterly detest and abhor the Simoniacal wickedness ; and I 
desire, as far as my littleness is capable of doing it, to 
follow the footsteps of the most blessed prince of the 
apostles. ' I replied, ' I verily believe it is as you say ; but 



330 , THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

let it appear by showing outwardly such things as you 
know to be his, that you in your hearts embrace whatever 
is from Peter the Apostle. For I believe your wisdom does 
easily judge, that it is much more proper to estrange your 
countenance, already dedicated to God, from resemblance 
to him whom in your heart you abhor, and of whose 
hideous face you would shun the sight ; and, on the other 
hand, that it becomes you to imitate the outward resem- 
blance of him, w^hom you seek to have for your advocate 
with God, as you desire to follow his actions and instruc- 
tions.' This I then said to Adamannus, who indeed showed 
how much he had improved upon seeing the statutes of our 
churches, when, returning into Scotland, he afterwards by 
his preaching brought great numbers of that nation over to 
the catholic observance of the Paschal time; though he 
was not yet able to gain the consent of the monks that 
lived in the island of Hii, over whom he presided. He 
would also have been mindful to amend the tonsure, if his 
authority had extended so far. I also admonish your wis- 
dom, O king, that you endeavour to make the nation, over 
w^hich the King of kings, and Lord of lords, has placed 
you, observe in all points those things which appertain to 
the unity of the Catholic and Apostolic Church ; for thus 
it will come to pass, that after your temporal kingdom has 
passed away, the blessed prince of the apostles will lay open 
to you and yours the entrance into the heavenly kingdom, 
where you will rest for ever with the elect. The grace of 
the eternal King preserve thee in safety, long reigning, for 
the peace of us all, my most beloved son in Christ.'' 

This letter having been read in the presence of King 
Naiton, and many more of the most learned men, and 
carefully interpreted into his own language by those who 
could understand it, he is said to have much rejoiced at the 
exhortation; insomuch that, rising from among his great 
men that sat about him, he knelt on the ground, giving 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 331 

thanks to God that he had been found worthy to receive 
such a present from the land of the English, and, said he, 
" I knew indeed before, that this was the true celebration 
of Easter, but now I so fully know the reason for observ- 
ing of this time, that I seem convinced that I knew little 
of it before. Therefore I publicly declare and protest to 
you that are here present, that I will for ever continually 
observe this time of Easter, with all my nation ; and I do 
decree that this tonsure, which we have heard is most 
reasonable, shall be received by all the clergy in my king- 
dom." Accordingly he immediately performed by his regal 
authority what he had said. For the circles or revolutions 
of nineteen years were presently, by public command, sent 
throughout all the provinces of the Picts to be transcribed, 
learned and observed, the erroneous revolutions of eighty- 
four years being every where suppressed. All the minis- 
ters of the altar and monks had the crown shorn, and the 
nation thus reformed, rejoiced, as being newly put under 
the direction of Peter, the most blessed prince of the 
apostles, and secure under his protection. 



CHAPTER XXIL 

THE MONKS OF HII, AND THE MONASTERIES SUBJECT TO THEM, 
BEGIN TO CELEBRATE THE CANONICAL EASTER AT THE PREACH- 
ING OF EGBERCHT. 

Not lonff after, those monks also of the Scot- 

A T) 71 fi 

tish nation, who lived in the isle of Hii, with the 
other monasteries that were subject to them, were by the 
assistance of our Lord brought to the canonical observa- 
tion of Easter, and the right mode of tonsure. For in the 
year after the incarnation of our Lord 71 6, when Osfred 
was slain, and Coenred took upon him the government of 



332 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

the kingdom of the Northumbriaus, the holy father and 
priest, Egbercht, beloved of God, and worthy to be named 
with all honour, whom we have often mentioned before, 
coming among them, was joyfully and honourably received. 
Being a most agreeable teacher, and devout in practising 
those things which he taught, and being willingly heard by 
all, he, by his pious and frequent exhortations, converted 
them from that inveterate tradition of their ancestors, of 
whom may be said those words of the apostle, " That they 
had the zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." He 
taught them to perform the principal solemnity after the 
catholic and apostolic manner, as has been said, under the 
figure of a perpetual circle ; which appears to have been 
accomplished by a wonderful dispensation of the Divine 
goodness ; to the end, that the same nation which had 
willingly, and without envy, communicated to the English 
people the knowledge of the true Deity, should afterwards, 
by means of the English nation, be brought where they 
were defective to the true rule of life. Even as, on the 
contrary, the Britons, who would not acquaint the English 
with the knowledge of the Christian faith, now, when the 
English people enjoy the true faith, and are thoroughly in- 
structed in its rules, continue inveterate in their errors, 
expose their heads without a crown, and keep the solemnity 
of Christ without the society of the Church. The monks 
of Hii, by the instruction of Egbercht, adopted the catholic 
rites, under Abbot Dunchad, about eighty years after 
they had sent Aidan to preach to the English nation. This 
man of God, Egbercht, remained thirteen years in the 
aforesaid island, which he had thus consecrated again to 
Christ, by kindling in it a new ray of Divine grace, and 
restoring it to the unity of ecclesiastical discipine. In the 
year of our Lord's incarnation 729, in which the Easter of 
our Lord was celebrated on the eighth day of the kalends of 
May, he performed the solemnity of the mass, in memory 
of the same resurrection of our Lord, and dying that same 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 333 

day, thus finished, or rather never ceases to celebrate, with 
our Lord, the apostles, and the other citizens of heaven, 
that greatest festival, which he had begun with the 
brethren, whom he had converted to the unity of grace. 
But it was a wonderful dispensation of the Divine Provi- 
dence, that the venerable man not only passed out of this 
world to the Father, in Easter, but also when Easter was 
celebrated on that day, on which it had never been wont to 
be kept in those parts. The brethren rejoiced in the cer- 
tain and catholic knowledge of the time of Easter, and 
rejoiced in the protection of their father, departed to our 
Lord, by whom they had been converted. He also con- 
gratulated his being so long continued in the flesh till he 
saw his followers admit, and celebrate with him, that as 
Easter day which they had ever before avoided. Thus the 
most reverend father being assured of their standing cor- 
rected, rejoiced to see the day of our Lord, and he saw it 
and was glad. 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THE ENGLISH NATION, OH OF ALL 
BRITAIN, WITH AN HISTORICAL RECAPITULATION OF THE WHOLE 
WORK, AND SOMETHING CONCERNING THE PERSON OF THE 
AUTHOR. 

In the year of our Lord's incarnation 725, being the 
seventh year of Osric, king of the Northumbrians, who 
succeeded Coenred, Victred, the son of Egbercht, king of 
Kent, died on the 9th of the kalends of May, and left his 
three sons, Ethilberht, Eadbercht, and Alric, heirs of that 
kingdom, which he had governed thirty-four years and a 
half. The next year died Tobias, bishop of the church of 
Rochester, a most learned man, as has been said before ; 



334 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

for he was disciple to those teachers of blessed memory, 
Theodore, the archbishop, and Abbot Adrian, by which 
means, as w^e have before observed, besides his erudition 
in ecclesiastical and general literature, he learned both the 
Greek and Latin tongues to such perfection, that they 
were as well known and familiar to him as his native lan- 
guage. He was buried in the portico of St. Paul the 
Apostle, which he had built within the church of St. An- 
drew for his own place of burial. After him Aldwulf took 
upon him the office of bishop, having been consecrated by 
Archbishop Berchtwald. In the year of our Lord's incar- 
nation 728, two comets appeared about the sun, to the 
great terror of the beholders. One of them went before 
the rising sun in the morning, the other followed him when 
he set at night, as it were presaging much destruction to 
the east and west ; or one was the forerunner of the day, 
and the other of the night, to signify that mortals were 
threatened with calamities at both times. They carried 
their flaming tails towards the north, as it were ready to 
set the world on fire. They appeared in January, and con- 
tinued nearly two weeks. At which time a dreadful plague 
of Saracens ravaged France with miserable slaughter ; and 
they not long after in that country received the punishment 
due to their wickedness. In which year the holy man of 
God, Egbercht, departed to our Lord, as has been said 
above, on Easter day ; and immediately after Easter, that 
is, on the 7th day of the ides of May, Osric, king of the 
Northumbrians, departed this life, after he had reigned 
eleven years, and appointed Ceolwulf, brother to Coenred, 
who had reigned before him, his successor ; the beginning 
and progress of whose reign were so filled with commotions, 
that it cannot yet be known w^hat is to be said concerning 
them, or w^hat end they will have. In the year of our 
Lord's incarnation 731, Archbishop Berchtwald died of old 
age, on the 5th day of the ides of January, having held his 
see thirty-seven years, six months and fourteen days. In 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 335 

his stead, the same year, Tatwine, of the province of the 
Mercians, was made archbishop, having been a priest in the 
monastery called Briudun. He was consecrated in the 
city of Canterbury by the venerable men, Daniel, bishop of 
Winchester, Ingwald of London, Alduin of Litchfield, and 
Aldulf of Rochester, on Sunday, the 10th of June, being a 
man renowned for religion and wisdom, and notably learned 
in Sacred Writ. Thus at present, the bishops Tatwine and 
Aldulf preside in the churches of Kent ; Ingwald in the 
province of the East Saxons. In the province of the East 
Angles, Ealdbercht and Hadulac are bishops ; in the pro- 
vince of the West Saxons, Daniel and Forthere are bishops ; 
in the province of the Mercians, Aldwine. Among those 
people who live beyond the river Severn to the westward, 
Walstod is bishop ; in the province of the Huiccians, Wil- 
frid ; in the province of the Lindisfarnes, Cynibercht pre- 
sides ; the bishopric of the isle of Wight belongs to Daniel, 
bishop of Winchester. The province of the South Saxons, 
having now continued some years without a bishop, receives 
the episcopal ministry from the prelate of the West Saxons. 
All these provinces, and the others southward to the bank 
of the river Humber, with their kings, are subject to King 
Ethilbald. But in the province of the Northumbrians, 
where King Ceolwulf reigns, four bishops now preside ; Wil- 
frid in the church of York, Ethilwald in that of Lindisfarne, 
Acca in that of Hagulstad, Pecthelm in that which is called 
the White House, which, from the increased number of 
believers, has lately become an episcopal see, and has him for 
its first prelate. The nation of the Picts also at this time 
is at peace with the English nation, and rejoices in being 
united in peace and truth with the whole Catholic Church. 
The Scots that inhabit Britain, satisfied with their own ter- 
ritories, meditate no hostilities against the nation of the 
English. The Britons, though they, for the most part, 
through innate hatred, are adverse to the English nation, 
and wrongfully, and from wicked custom, oppose the ap- 



336 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

pointed Easter of the whole CathoHc Church ; yet both the 
Divine and human power withstanding them, they can in 
no way prevail as they desire ; for though in part they are 
their own masters, yet elsewhere they are also brought 
under subjection to the EngHsh. Such being the peaceable 
and calm disposition of the times, many of the Northum- 
brians, as well of the nobility as private persons, laying 
aside their weapons, rather incline to dedicate both them- 
selves and their children to the tonsure and monastic vows, 
than to study martial discipline. What will be the end 
hereof, the next age will show. This is for the present the 
state of all Britain ; in the year since the coming of the 
English into Britain about 285, but in the 731st year of 
the incarnation of our Lord, in whose reign may the earth 
ever rejoice; may Britain exult in the profession of his 
faith ; and may many islands be glad, and sing praises in 
honour of his holiness ! 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

A CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF THE FOREGOING HISTORY, AND 
OF THE AUTHOR HIMSELF. 

I HAVE thought fit briefly to sum up those things which 
have been related more at large, according to the distinc- 
tion of times, for the better preserving them in memory. 

B. c. 60. In the sixtieth year before the incarnation of 
our Lord, Caius Julius Caesar, first of the Romans, invaded 
Britain, and was victorious, yet could not gain the kingdom. 

A. D. 46. In the year from the incarnation of our Lord, 
46, Claudius, second of the Romans, invading Britain, had 
a great part of the island surrendered to him, and added 
the islands Orcades to the Roman empire. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 337 

A. D. 167. In the year from the incarnation of our Lord 
167, Eleutherius, being made bishop at Rome, governed 
the Church most gloriously fifteen years. Lucius, king of 
Britain, writing to him, requested to be made a Christian, 
and succeeded in obtaining his request. 

A. D. 189. In the year from the incarnation of our Lord 
189, Severus, being made emperor, reigned seventeen years; 
he enclosed Britain with a trench from sea to sea. 

A. D. 881. In the year 381, Maximus, being made em- 
peror in Britain, sailed over into Gaul, and slew Gratian. 

A.D. 409, Rome was crushed by the Goths, from which 
time Roman emperors began to reign in Britain. 

A. D. 430, Palladius was sent to be the first bishop of the 
Scots that believed in Christ, by Pope Celestin. 

A. D. 449, Martian, being made emperor with Valentinian, 
reigned seven years; in whose time the English, being 
called by the Britons, came into Britain. 

A. D. 538, there happened an eclipse of the sun, on 
the 14th of the kalends of March, from the first to the 
third hour. 

A. D. 540, an eclipse of the sun happened on the 12th of 
the kalends of July, and the stars appeared during almost 
half-an-hour after the third hour of the day. 

A. D. 547, Ida began to reign ; from him the royal family 
of the Northumbrians derives its original ; he reigned 
twelve years. 

A.D. 565, the priest, Columb, came out of Scotland into 
Britain, to instruct the Picts, and built a monastery in the 
isle of Hii. 

A. D. 596, Pope Gregory sent Augustine with monks into 
Britain, to preach the Word of God to the English nation. 

A. D. 597, the aforesaid teachers arrived in Britain ; being 
about the 150th year from the coming of the English into 
Britain. 

A.D. 601, Pope Gregory sent the pall into Britain, to 



338 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

Augustine, who was already made bishop ; he sent also 
several ministers of the word, among whom was Paulinus. 

A. D. 603, a battle was fought at Degsastane. 

A. D. 60^1?, the East-Saxons received the faith of Christ, 
under King Saebercht, and the Bishop Mellitus. 

A. D. 605, Gregory died. 

A. D. 616, Ethilbert, king of Kent, died. 

A. D. 625, the venerable Paulinus was, by Archbishop 
Justus, ordained bishop of the Northumbrians. 

A. D. 626, Eanfled, daughter to King Edwin, was bap- 
tized, with twelve others, on Whitsun-Saturday. 

A. D. 627, King Edwin was baptized, with his nation, at 
Easter. 

A. D. 633, King Edwin being killed, Paulinus returned to 
Kent. 

A.D, 640, Eadbald, king of Kent, died. 

A. D. 642, King Oswald was slain. 

A. D. 644, Palinus, first bishop of York, but now of the 
city of Rochester, departed to our Lord. 

A. D. 651, King Oswine was killed, and Bishop Aidan died. 

A. D. 653, the jMidland Angles, under their prince, Peada, 
received the mysteries of the faith. 

A. D. 655, Penda was slain, and the Mercians became 
Clu'istians. 

A. D. 664, there happened an eclipse of the sun ; Earcon- 
berht, king of Kent, died ; and Colman returned to the 
Scots ; a pestilence arose ; Ceadda and Wilfrid were or- 
dained bishops of the Northumbrians. 

A. D. 668, Theodore was ordained bishop. 

A.D. 670, Oswi, king of the Northumbrians, died. 

A. D. 673, Ecgberht, king of Kent, died, and a synod was 
held at Herudford, in the presence of King Ecgfrid, Arch- 
bishop Theodore presiding ; the synod did much good, and 
its decrees are contained in ten chapters. 

A. D. 675, Wulfere, king of the Mercians, dying, when 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 339 

he had reigned seventeen years, left the crown to his 
brother Etheh-ed. 

A. D. 676, Ethelred ravaged Kent. 

A. D. 678, a comet appeared ; Bishop Wilfrid was driven 
from his see by King Ecgfrid ; and Bosa, Eata and Ead- 
bert were consecrated bishops in his stead. 

A. D. 679, Elswine was killed. 

A. D. 680, a Synod was held in the field called Hethfeld, 
concerning the Christian faith, Archbishop Theodore pre- 
siding; John, the Roman abbot, w^as also present. The 
same year also the Abbess Hilda died at Streaneschalch. 

A. D. 685, Ecgfrid, king of the Northumbrians, was slain. 

The same year, Lothere, king of Kent, died. 

A. D. 688, Ceadwal, king of the West-Saxons, went to 
Rome from Britain. 

A. D. 690, Archbishop Theodore died. 

A. D. 697, Queen Osthrid was murdered by her own 
people, that is, the nobility of the Mercians. 

A. D. 698, Berctred, the royal commander of the North- 
umbrians, w^as slain by the Picts. 

A. D. 704, Ethilred became a monk, after he had reigned 
thirty years over the nation of the Mercians, and gave up 
the kingdom to Coenred. 

A. D. 705, Aldfrid, king of the Northumbrians, died. 

A. D. 709, Coenred, king of the Mercians, having reigned 
six years, went to Rome. 

A. D. 711, General Berhtfrid fought with the Picts. 

A. D. 716, Osred, king of the Northumbrians, was killed; 
and Ceolred, king of the Mercians, died ; and Egbercht, 
the man of God, reduced the monks of Hii to observe the 
catholic Easter and ecclesiastical tonsure. 

A. D. 725, Wichtred, king of Kent, died. 

A. D. 729, Comets appeared ; the holy Egbercht de- 
parted ; and Osric died. 

A. D. 781, Archbishop Berhtwald died. 

The same year Tatwine was consecrated ninth arch- 

z 2 



340 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

bishop of Canterbury, in the fifteenth year of iEthilbald, 
king of Kent. 

(What follows appears to be by another hand.) 

[In the year from the incarnation of our Lord 782, Eg- 
bercht was made bishop of York, in the room of Wilfrid ; 
Cymbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, died. 

A.D. 738, there happened an echpse of the sun, on 
the 18th day of the kalends of September, about the 
third hour of the day ; sO that almost all the orb of the 
sun seemed to be covered with a black and horrid shield. 

In the year from the incarnation of our Lord 788, Arch- 
bishop Tatwine, having received the pall by Apostolical 
authority, ordained Alwich and Sigfrid bishops. 

A.D. 784, the moon, on the 2nd of the kalends of 
February, about the time of cock-crowing, was, for about a 
whole hour, covered with a bloody red, after which a black- 
ness followed, and she regained her light. 

In the year from the incarnation of our Lord 784, 
Bishop Tatwine died. 

In the year from the incarnation of our Lord 785, 
Nothelm was ordained archbishop ; and Bishop Egbercht, 
having received the pall from the Apostolic See, was the 
first confirmed archbishop after Paulinus, and ordained 
Fruidbert and Fruidwald bishops ; and the priest Bede died. 

A. D. 787, too much drought rendered the land unfruitful, 
and Ceolwulf, voluntarily receiving the tonsure, left the 
kingdom to Eadbert. 

A. D. 789, Edilhart, king of the West-Saxons, died, as did 
Archbishop Nothelm. 

A. D. 740, Cuthbert was consecrated in Nothelm's stead. 
Edilwald, king of the Mercians, through impious fraud, 
wasted part of the Northumbrians, their king Eadbert, 
with his army, being employed against the Picts. Bishop 
Edilwald died also, and Conwulf was consecrated in his 
stead. Amwin and Eadbert were slain. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 341 

A. D. 741, first a great drought happened in the country. 
Charles, king of the Franks, died ; and his sons, Caroloman 
and Pepin, reigned in his stead. 

A. D. 745, Bishop Wilfrid and Inguald, bishop of London, 
departed to our Lord. 

A. D. 747, the man of God, Herefrid, died. 

A. D. 750, Cudred, king of the West-Saxons, rose up 
against King Edilwald and Oenguse ; Theneorus and Ean- 
red died ; Eadbert added the plain of Cyilc and other 
places to his dominions. 

A. D. 756, in the fifth year of King Eadbert, on the ides 
of January, there happened an eclipse of the sun ; after- 
wards, the same year and month, on the 9th of the kalends 
of February, the moon suffered an eclipse, being most 
horridly black. 

A. D. 754, Boniface, called also Winfrid, bishop of the 
Franks, received the crown of martyrdom, with fifty-three 
others ; and Redger was consecrated archbishop in his 
stead, by Pope Stephen. 

A. D. 757, Edilbald, king of the Mercians, was miserably 
murdered, in the night, by his own tutors ; Beonred began 
his reign ; Cymwulf, king of the West- Saxons, died ; and 
the same year, Offa, having vanquished Beonred, in a 
bloody manner, sought to gain the kingdom of the 
Mercians. 

A. p. 758, Eadbert, king of the Northumbrians, receiving 
St. Peter s tonsure, for the love of God, and to gain the 
heavenly country by violence, left the kingdom to his son 
Oswulf. 

A. D. 759, Oswulf was wickedly murdered by his own ser- 
vants ; and Edilwald, being chosen the same year by his 
people, entered upon the kingdom; in whose second year 
there happened a great tribulation of mortality, and con- 
tinued almost two years, several grievous distempers raging, 
but more especially the dysentery. 

A. D. 761, Oeng, king of the Picts, died ; who, from the 



342 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

beginning to the end of his reign, continued a bloody 
tyrannical butcher : Oswin was also slain. 

A. D. 765, King Aluchred was advanced to the throne. 

A. D. 766, Archbishop Egbercht, of the royal race, and en- 
dued with Divine knowledge, as also Erithubert, both of 
them truly faithful prelates, departed to our Lord.] 



Thus much of the Ecclesiastical History of the Britons, 
and more especially of the English nation, as far as I could 
learn either from the WTitings of the ancients, or the tradi- 
tion of our ancestors, or of my own knowledge, has, with 
the help of God, been digested by me, Bede, the servant of 
God, and priest of the monastery of the blessed apostles, 
Peter and Paul, which is at Wiremuth and Gyrwum ; who 
being born in the territory of that same monastery, was 
given, at seven years of age, to be educated by the most 
reverend Abbot Benedict, and afterwards by Ceolfrid ; and 
spending all the remaining time of my life in that monas- 
tery, I wholly applied myself to the study of Scripture, and 
amidst the observance of regular discipline, and the daily 
care of singing in the church, I always took delight in 
learning, teaching, and writing. In the nineteenth year of 
my age, I received deacon's orders ; in the thirtieth, those 
of the priesthood, both of them by the ministry of the most 
reverend Bishop John, and by order of the Abbot Ceolfrid. 
From which time, till the fifty-ninth year of my age, I have 
made it my business, for the use of me and mine, to com- 
pile out of the works of the venerable Fathers, and to in- 
terpret and explain according to their meaning these fol- 
lowing pieces : — 

On the Beginning of Genesis, to the Birth of Isaac, the 
Election of Israel, and the Reprobation of Ismael, three 
books. 



OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 343 

Of the Tabernacle and its Vessels, and of the Priestly 
Vestments, three books. 

On the first Part of Samuel, to the Death of Saul, four 
books. 

Of the Building of the Temple, of Allegorical Exposition, 
like the rest, two books. 

Item, on Kings, a Book of thirty Questions. 

On Solomon's Proverbs, three books. 

On the Canticles, six books. 

On Isaiah, Daniel, the twelve Prophets, and Part of 
Jeremy, Distinctions of Chapters, collected out of St. 
Jerom's Treatise. 

On Esdras and Nehemiah, three books. 

On the Song of Habacuc, one book. 

On the Book of the blessed Father Tobias, one Book of 
Allegorical Exposition concerning Christ and the Church. 

Also, Chapters of Readings on Moses's Pentateuch,, 
Joshua, and Judges. 

On the Books of Kings and Chronicles. 

On the Book of the blessed Father Job. 

On the Parables, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles. 

On the Prophets Isaiah, Esdras, and Nehemiah. 

On the .Gospel of Mark, four books. 

Op the Gospel of Luke, six books. 

Of Homilies on the Gospel, two books. 

On the Apostle, I have carefully transcribed in order 
all that I have found in St. Augustine's Works. 

On the Acts of the Apostles, tv/o books. 

On the seven Catholic Epistles, a book on each. 

On the Revelation of St. John, three books. 

Also, Chapters of Readings on all the New Testament, 
except the Gospel. 

Also a book of Epistles to different Persons, of which 
one is of the Six Ages of the World ; one of the Mansions 
of the Children of Israel ; one on the Words of Isaiah, 
" And they shall be shut up in the prison, and after many 
days shall they be visited;" one of the Reason of the Bis- 



344 THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, ETC. 

sextile, or Leap Year, and of the Equinox, according to 
Anatolius. 

Also, of the Histories of Saints. I translated the Book 
of the Life and Passion of St. Felix, Confessor, from Pau- 
linus's Work in metre, into prose. 

The Book of the Life and Passion of St. Anastasius, 
which was ill translated from the Greek, and worse amended 
by some unskilful person, I have corrected as to the sense. 

I have written the Life of the Holy Father Cuthbert, 
who was both monk and prelate, first in heroic verse, and 
then in prose. 

The History of the Abbots of this Monastery, in which 
I rejoice to serve the Divine Goodness, viz. Benedict, 
Ceolfrid, and Huetberht, in two books. 

The Ecclesiastical History of our Island and Nation, in 
five books. 

The Martyrology of the Birth-Days of the Holy Martyrs, 
in ^^ hich I have carefully endeavoured to set down all that I 
could find, and not only on what day, but also by what sort 
of combat, or under what prince they overcame the world. 

A Book of Hymns in several sorts of metre, or rhyme. 

A Book of Epigrams in heroic or elegiac verse. 

Of the Nature of Things, and of the Times, one book of 
each. 

Also, of the Times, one larger book. 

A Book of Orthography digested in Alphabetical Order. 

Also a Book of the Art of Poetry, and to it 1 have added 
another little Book of Tropes and Figures ; that is, of the 
Figures and ^Manners of Speaking in which the Holy 
Scriptures are written. 



And now I beseech thee, good Jesus, that to whom thou 
hast graciously granted sweetly to partake of the words of 
thy wisdom and knowledge, thou wilt also vouchsafe that 
he may some time or other come to thee the fountain of all 
wisdom, and always appear before thy face. Amen. 



NOTES, 



Page 1. — ^Ceolwulph or Ceolulph, king of the Northumbrians, a 
prince of no small learning, and an encourager of learned men ; he 
resigned his kingdom to his son three years after Bede's death, and 
became monk at Lindisfarne, where he died in the year 740. There 
were two others of this name, one king of the East-Saxons, the other 
of the Mercians. 

Page 2. — ^ Albinus, an Englishman, and the first of that country that 
was abbot of St. Austin's, near Canterbury ; he was disciple to Adrian, 
the abbot, and Theodore, the archbishop : was famous for his know- 
ledge in Greek and Latin, and died anno 723. He has been confounded 
with Flaccus Albinus, or Alcuinus, by Baronius, Leland, and others ; 
whereas he Hved the age after the other, and died abbot of Tours, in 
the year 804. Bede wrote to this Albinus an epistle, De auxilii accept! 
beneficio. 

^^ Theodore, a Greek, sent over by Pope Vitalian, was archbishop of 
Canterbury. Of him Bede has treated in his fourth and fifth books. 

^^ Adrian, colleague with Theodore, was abbot of St. Austin's ; died 
there 723, and was afterwards canonized. 

^^Nothelmus was born at London ; he was priest of St. Paul's, after- 
wards monk of Canterbury, and archbishop thereof two years after 
Bede's death. He wrote (according to Pits, p. 141) one book of the 
Life of St. Augustine, one book of his Miracles, one of his Translation, 
which he undertook at the instance of Bede and Alcuinus, his scholar; 
he likewise wrote one book of Epistles to Bede, and died anno 739. 

Page 3. — "^Cyneburt or Cimbert, was first monk, and afterwards 
bishop of Lincoln ; he is said by Bale and Pits to have written 
Annals : but I suppose they had no authority for it but this mention 
Bede makes of him, which was enough for them. 

Page 4. — ^Cuthbert, bishop of Hagulstad and Landisfarne; his life 
Bede wrote first in heroic verse and afterwards in prose, as it is now 
among his works. 



346 



NOTES. 



^ Landisfarne is a small island in Northumberland, called likewise 
by the Saxons, Lindisfarne, from the river Linde, which surrounds it; 
it is now called Holy Island. Here stood a monastery in Bede's time, 
which was afterwards destroyed by the Danes. 

^^ Moreover , I beseech, &c. Tliis prayer is omitted in Stevens's edition. 
Did he think that it savoured too much of Romish doctrine ? — [Ed.] 

Page 5. — Pits very confidently affirms that Bede wrote a book, 
" De situ et mirabilibus Britanniae," which, he says, was in the 
Library of Bennet College, in Cambridge. If such a book was ever 
written, it is nowhere now to be found ; and therefore Bishop Nichol- 
son supposes he mistook it for this first chapter, or at least the para- 
phrastical translation of it, by King .-Elfred, into the Saxon tongue, 
which he says is in Bennet Library, and which that writer takes to 
be a diflferent piece. Bede, in this description of Britain, follows 
chiefly Pliny, Solinus, Orosius, and Gildas, (or as others say) Dion 
Cassius, &c. 

Page 6. — ^Sea-calves, or sea- veals, now contractedly called seals. 

^It appears, by several writers, that the British pearls were known 
and esteemed even before the Roman conquest, and one reason 
Suetonius gives for Caesar's expedition, was in quest of them ; which 
Pliny seems to confirm, when (in Nat, Hist. 1. 9, c. 35), he says, that 
Julius Caesar gave a breastplate, covered with British pearl, to Venus 
Genetrix, and hung it in her temple at Rome. These Pliny calls 
small and ill-coloured ; and Tacitus suflTulca ac liventia ; but Origen 
seems to agree with our Bede as to their colours. They are found in 
a large black muscle, described by Dr. Lister ; and are common in the 
river Jut, in Cumberland ; where, not many years since, a patent was 
granted to fish for them, (^^de Camb. Brit, and Gibson's Annot.) It 
is plain, nevertheless, that these pearls were ill-coloured, and of little 
or no value ; and we see they are not now worth looking after. 

^^Jet. This is not the gagates so valuable among the ancients; but, on 
the contrary, some, though falsely, have taken it for our pit-coal. It 
grows in rocks, and is first reddish, but after polishing is black and 
shining. With this description of Bede agrees the poet : 
Nascitur in Lycia lapis et prope gemma gagates, 
Sed genus eximium foecunda Britannia mittit ; 
Lucidus et niger est, levis et levissimus idem, 
Vicinas paleas trahit attritu calefactus. — Marbodceus of Jewels. 



NOTES. 347 

Page 7. — ^The beginning of the Saxon Annals seems to be almost 
the same with this place, but more concise ; and whoever of these 
writers was first, there is no doubt but the other followed him ; they 
differ only in this, the Saxon Annals has it Armenia for Armorica ; a 
fault, I suppose, made by some of the late transcribers, mistaking 
the Saxon r for n. Bishop Nicholson imagines the first part of the 
Annals earlier, but Bishop Gibson takes it to be copied from Bede. 

^^Bede's bringing the Britons from Armorica into Britain, was, 1 sup- 
pose, grounded upon Tacitus and Csesar's conjecture, from the simi- 
litude of their language and customs; for our British historians could 
afford him no information ; of whose ignorance Gildas and Nennius 
complain ; their miseries neither giving them time for learning, nor 
leisure to convey their history down : but however obscure their 
original may be, it is evident that neither Gildas, Nennius, Bede, nor 
Malmsbury, so much as dreamt of the fabulous story of Brute. 

^^The original of the Picts has caused various opinions. Hector 
Boethius derives them from the Agathyrsi, others from the Germans, 
Bede from Scythia, and the author of the Saxon Annals from the 
southern parts of Scythia. Mr. Cambden is of opinion that they were 
originally Britons, who fled into the northern parts of the island from 
the Roman invasions, as the Welsh into the western. But this is 
opposed by Bishop Stillingfleet, Orig. Brit. c. 5. 

^"^ With this account of the Picts' marriage andlandingagreesthe Saxon 
Chronicle, but with this difference, — there is no mention made of any 
difficulty arising ; and whereas Bede tells us, they retained that cus- 
tom to his time ; the other says only, they continued it a long time 
after; which seems to intimate, that even that early part of the 
Chronicle was after Bede, or else touched up and altered by some 
later hand. 

Page 8. — ^°This Reuda is thought to be chief of the sons of the 
King of Ulster, who, as Girald. Camb. says, came into the northern 
parts of Britain, with a large fleet, and there settled. 

^^Roeda, in the Saxon Chronicle, and Dalreodi from dal, a part or 
cohort; and Roeda, called by Forden, Rether. See Gibson, Sax. 
Chron. p. 2. Mr. Cambden confesses he could find no remains of the 
name Dalreudin, except a people called Dalrietia, by Pictland ; which 
appears by an old historical writing of Kennet, which says, " Kinno- 
dius biennium antequam pervenit in Pictaviam Dalriotee Regnum 
suscepit." Nennius says they came in Brutus Coss. with Cairbre 



348 NOTES. 

Rieda, the third son of Conair. There was a place in Scotland called 
Dalrea or Dalurea, in Argyle, where R. Bruce fought a battle. Dal- 
rieda is now the county of Antrim, and called Rout, Dalrede, or 
Dalreth ; which, with the island Rachlyn or Rachihn, King John 
granted to Alanus de Galiven. 

^"*To this authority of Bede we may produce many others. Buchanan 
says, " Dalree ager regius." Claudian makes the Scots issue from 
Ireland ; to which Orosius and other writers agree ; as likewise King 
Alfred's paraphrase upon Orosius, he calls Ireland, Scotland, Ijbejinia 
that pe j'colanb hatac)?. 

Page 9- — ^Alchdth, or Alcluid, called by Xennius, Pen-Alcloit, a town 
near the river Cluid, in Stirlingshire : now called Dunbar. Forden 
describes this wall as beginning at a village called Karedin, Kaer- 
Eden, or Edenborough, and ending at Kirk Patrick. 

-'This, it is likely, is that Laberius, of whom Caesar makes this men- 
tion, " Eo die Q. Laberius Durus Tribunus militum interficitur." 
De Bell. Gall. 1. 5. Leland says this Laberius was killed at Ches- 
tonwood, near RofFan. Tliere is a place in Kent, near Chilham, 
where they show a green barrow or a monument, called to this day 
Jul-Labier. 

Page 10. — ^Called by Csesar, Cassivellaunus, and by the Britons, 
Cassibelin, king of the Cassii; he reigned over the Catieuclani, viz. 
Bucks, Bedfordshire, and Hertfordshire. 

^These stakes, Bede says, were in his time visible, and the place is 
even now to be pointed out ; it is above bridge, near Oatlands, and 
called Cowey-Stakes, where the river, says Cambden, is scarcely six feet 
deep, and answers exactly to Caesar's distance of eighty miles from 
the sea. Dr. Smith has observed that Bede, as well as Orosius, whom 
he copied, were mistaken in saying the river was fordable at no other 
place, since conjectures have bet:n various, that he passed at Brent- 
ford^ Kingston, Chertsey, and WaUingford. 

"Called by Csesar, Mandubratius, prince of the Trinobantes, viz. 

Middlesex and Essex, Cassibellan ha\'ing slain his father Imanuentius, 
and seized his city ; this prince fled into Gaul, to Caesar, for aid. — 
Vide de Bell Gall. 1. 5. 

^In this part of his history, Bede follows Caesar step by step; and 
particularly his description of Cassibellan's town, of the situation of 



NOTES. 349 

which he was, I suppose, in the dark, even in his early time ; but Mr. 
Cambden has pointed out the place to be Verulamium, or St. Alban's ; 
and confirms his opinion, likewise, by this conjecture, that the hun- 
dred Caisho seems to retain something of the name of the Cassii 
before-mentioned. 

Page 11. — '^Of this revolt under Bonduca, Tacitus has given a long 
and curious account. Camolodunum, now Maldon, in Essex. 

^"^ London and Verulamium, near St. Alban's. 

Page 12. — ^This message to Eleutherius is, by the author of the 
Saxon Chronicle, placed in the time of Bassianus, son of Severus, in 
whose first year he says Eleutherius was made bishop of Rome, which 
year Florent. places 162 ; Mat. West, 185 ; a manuscript of the Saxon 
Chronicle of Archbishop Laud's, cxlvii., supposed by Bishop Gibson 
to be transposed to clxvii. : the latter part of this chapter is exactly 
the same with the Saxon Chronicle. 

^•^This wall, or dike of turfs, agrees with the Saxon Chronicle; it was 
called by Antoninus, vallum ; by the Britons, gual-severe : it was 
afterwards built of stone. Of which see more chap. 12. 

Page 13. — ^'^Bede speaks of the length of the persecution in general, 
for in the western parts it continued but two years, as Eusebius 
observes. — De Marty rol. Pal. c.l3. 

Page 16. — ^^The passage of drying up the river is mentioned by Gil- 
das, but the other two are not ; the latter, indeed, of the executioner 
losing his sight, Hiericus, a French writer, about the 9th century, 
mentions ; but it is likely Bede had these by tradition, or some ancient 
book of St. Alban's, for Harpsfield says, there was one in the British 
language written before his time ; but then if that had the relation of 
the clergyman's martyrdom, Alban's instructor, I wonder Bede should 
be silent, both as to his death and name. The latter of which Geoffrey 
of Monmouth gives us, and calls him Amphibalus ; he is said to have 
suffered at Redburn, three miles from St. Alban's ; and Thomas of 
Redburn, in the 15th century, says, they had two large knives in that 
place, which were used upon that occasion. [The passage " Being led 
to execution," &c. is corrupt, in the original venit ad flumen, quod 
muro et arena, uUferiendus erat, meatu rapidissimo dividebaturj vidit- 
que, 8fc. The cop)dst probably wrote quod muro (or muru for murum) 
et arena, &c., dividehat uiuiditque ibi, Sec, and thus by the accidental 



350 



NOTES. 



reduplication of ui (for vi) the first syllable of vidit, arose the passive 
termination -batur. — Ed.] 

'^This officer Capgrave calls Heraclius, others Arachus and Aracle. 

Page 17.— ^^The place where St. Alban suffered was called Holmhurst, 
in the Saxon, signifying a woody place, near the city of Verulamiura, 
or Verulam, where Bede says there was a beautiful church in his 
time ; since when, Offa, king of the Mercians, anno 793, founded in 
this place the stately monastery of St. Alban, and procured and 
granted it extraordinary privileges, upon which arose the town of St. 
Alban's, in Hertfordshire. As the saint of this church was the first 
martyr in England, Pope Honorius granted the abbot a superiority 
over all others. In the time of Henry VHI. it fell with the rest, but 
the townsmen preserved the church from ruin, by a purchase of £400. 
The ruins of the ancient Verulam are even now to be seen; and the church 
is built out of them, being, as Bishop Gibson observes, of British bricks. 

Page 20. — -Bede here calls Pelagius a Briton only; he was born in 
Wales, and his British name was Morgan ; he is said by most of our 
\mters since Bede, to have been a monk, and abbot of Bangor ; he was 
a man of learning, and wrote several valuable books before his heresy. 
His tenets are to be seen in St. August, de Gest. Palaestin. c. 11, et 
De Peccat. Orig. c. 11. 

Page 22. — -^This wall, which runs from Edinburgh Frith to that of 
Dunbritton, was built by Adrian, and repaired by Severus. It is now 
called Grahamsdike. The remains of it are still visible. — See Camb- 
den's Britannia. 

Page 23. — ^Abercumig, i. e. Aber (ostium) corronis fluvius, a monas- 
tery, where is now Abercorncastle, near which the wall is said to begin 
at a place called Penuelton, from the Pictish word, Penvael, the head 
of a wall; it is now called Walltoun. 

''Kirk St. Patrick. 

^This wall of Severus is, by Buchanan, confounded with that of 
Adrian. It was so near Bede's place of residence, and so firm, that 
he is not particular in its beginning or ending, which Cambden has 
accurately traced. It begins at Bulness, upon the Irish sea, and 
crossing the counties, comes to a small \illage called Walls-end, near 
Tinmouth ; it is visible for many miles together, standing entire, ex- 
cept the battlements; withinside is a military way, mentioned by 



NOTES. 351 

Bede. Bishop Gibson observes Bede's description to be so just, that, 
even now, for the generality, it is the height Bede mentions, and the 
breadth is generally eight feet, always more than seven. 

Page 24. — "-^Of this miserable estate of his countrymen, Gildas seems 
very movingly to complain ; but Bede, not touched with the feelings 
of the Britons, though he has taken the relation from him, has ex- 
pressed it, not with so much tenderness, but in severer terms. 

Page 25. — "^In some copies of Gildas, whence Bede took this, it is 
Agitio tertio Consuli ; in others the numerals are omitted ; and in one, 
iEquitio Cons., as Mr. Cambden observes ; in some Latin copies it is 
a Boetio Consule. Mr. Selden is of opinion, that this person was 
reaUy no consul, but called so only by our historians, who compli- 
mented all great Romans promiscuously with that title. But it was 
neither Egitius, nor Equitius, but ^Etius, who was consul with Sym- 
machus ; however, Bede here seems to be out in saying he was en- 
gaged with Bleda and Attila, for Bleda, according to Prosper, was 
kiUed by Attila two years before iEtius and Synna were consuls ; and 
one, according to Marcellinus. Mr. Cambden seems to doubt the 
veracity of Bede's history in this place, for the third consulship of 
iEtius fell in the thirty-ninth year of Theodosius, according to the 
calendar ; whereas, Bede makes it the twenty-third, and therefore the 
coming over of the Saxons was sooner, as will after appear ; for Ger- 
man is said to assist the Britons against the Scots and Saxons, which 
could not be if they came not tin after ^Etius, third consul in 446 ; 
whereas it is undoubtedly agreed that St. German died anno 435. 
And Nennius affirms, that St. German went over to his own country 
after the death of Vortigern, who was the prince that imdted the Sax- 
ons into Britain ; so that he must needs be come over before the year 
435, the last of St. German. Cambden proceeds to prove from Nen- 
nius, that the Saxons came over in the fourth year of Vortigern, when 
Theodosius and Valentinian were coss., and so consequently must be 
here in the year 428, long before this epistle to ^Etius. But Mr. 
Cambden supposes the numerals in Bede transcribed wrong. This 
difficulty of history, some -writers seem to solve by making it Scoto- 
rum, instead of Saxonum. On the other hand, others have proved (as 
Archbishop Usher) the Saxons to have made inroads long before 
Vortigern's invitation, which Claudian in his panegyric to Stilichon in- 
timates, and Mr. Cambden confesses ; neither will some allow the 
death of St. German so soon as Cambden places it, who, though he 
says he has the best authorities, has not told us who they were ; 
whereas Honoratus, his contemporary, says he was at the GaUican 
council in 444, and Ligonius places his death in 448. See Stilling- 



352 



NOTES. 



fleet, Origines Britan. p. 316. Archbishop Usher, Antiq. Brit. 217. 
This is closely copied from Gildas. 

Page 26.— ^Or Guortigern, a general, who was either set up by the 
people, or usurped that title. The reason of this inviting over those 
people is supposed to be not only out of fear of the northern nations, 
but of his own subjects, who, as Gildas says, set up and dethroned at 
their pleasure. He was hkewise, says Nennius, not a little fearful of 
Ambrosius' interest with them, whose parents he had murdered ; and 
who,beingthe last of the Romans, was in no small favour with thepeople. 

Page 27. — ^"The conjectures about the original and name of this people 
have been various, some supposing them the Saci, a people in Asia, 
others that they took their name from Saxa, a short sword, of which 
opinion is Bishop Stillingfleet. Mr. Cambden observes, that when 
they began to be first mentioned, which is by Ptolomy, they dwelt in 
the Cimbrica Chersonesus, now Denmark ; after which they broke 
into the Seevian territories, now the kingdom of Saxony, and driving 
out the Franks, and settling along the sea-coasts of Germany, and 
living by piracy, have since been called promiscuously Saxons, viz. 
those in Juitland, Sleswick, Holsatia, Ditsmarc, bishopric of Bremen, 
Oldenburg, East and West Friezland, and Holland ; for their country, 
says Ethelward, who wrote anno 950, contains all the sea-coast between 
the river Rhine and the city Doma, now Danemarc ; and from these 
coasts they harrassed Britain, till Hengist coming from Batavia, or 
Holland, settled here. — Camb. Brit. 

*^The Juites, or Goths, came from the upper part of Denmark, called 
Juitland. Mr. Cambden thinks they may have descended from the 
Gutti of Ptolomy, placed in Scandia, whose chief seat is Gothland. 

"^The Angles are by some said to have lived in Westphaha, where 
Ptolomy places the Suevi Angli ; others in Pomerania, where there is 
a town called Angleon ; Bede here places them between the Saxons 
and Jutes, which Mr. Cambden enlarges upon, and says, that Juteland 
and Holsatia, the old seats of the Saxons, is a pro\dnce in Denmark, 
under the city of Flemsburg, called at this day Angel, which Linde- 
bergius calls little England, and confirms his opinion by the authority 
of the aforesaid Ethelward, who says Old Anglia is situated between 
the Saxons and Giots, whose capital city is in Saxon called Sleswick, 
by the Danes, Haithbay. — See Camb. Brit. 

Page 28. — '^This battle was fought between Vortimer or Guortimer, 
and Hengist, at Ailsford, in Kent. 



NOTES. 353 

"Horsa's monument is at Horsted in Kent. 

'^The genealogy of Hengist and Horsa is exact with that in the Saxon 
chronicle. 

Page 29. — ^TThe Saxon writers taking so little notice of this great man 
Aurelius, is thought to be owing to their partiality for their ancestors. 
Huntingdon reports Ambrosius to have joined Vortigern's two sons, 
Vortimer and Catigis ; that the first battle was at Ailstrue or Elstree, 
and the second at Creganford, (in the SaxonAnnal,Cpeccan]"Ollb) now 
Crayford, in Kent. The author of the Saxon Annals mentions 4000 
men killed, and the Britons defeated, but takes no notice any where 
of Ambrosius ; so that Bede here alludes to that of Marsbelly. Gildas 
says, some of Ambrosius' posterity were alive in his time, but 
degenerated. 

Page 30.— ^° The life of St. German was written by Constantius, a 
priest of the Gallican church, whom Bede follows. 

Page 31. — ^*^The place of this famous conference was at St. Albans, 
where, Mr. Cambden says, near the ruins of the old city, stands a 
chapel dedicated to St. German, built upon the very ground where he 
stood at this dispute, now ill employed, as appears by an ancient 
record of that monastery. 

Page 33. — ^^ In this Bede follows Constantius, who asserts the same. 
In the year 1257, was dug up this old inscription in St. Alban's church : 
— "In this mausoleeum was found the venerable corpse of St. Alban, the 
protomartyr of Britain :" it was in lead, and supposed to have been 
laid in King OfFa's time. 

Page 36. — ^^Thisvictory, which Archbishop Usher calls VictoriaAlle- 
luiatica, was, he says, in Flintshire, at a place called in English, and 
by the Welsh, Guideruc Mold, where, Mr. Cambden says, are many 
antiquities. It is called, says Usher, to this day, Maes Garmon, or 
St. Germain's Field. 

Page 37. — ^^This second voyage of St. German is supposed to have 
taken place twenty years after the first. 

Page 39- — ^^ Called Badonicus,beingborn thesame year of the famous 
battle of Baddensdown, a monk of Bangor, about the middle of the sixth 
century. His book, "De Excidio Britannise," is all we have of his works 

A A 



354 NOTES. 

Page 43. — ^Daughter of Clotair, king of France. 

^Itis thought the favourable reception St. Augustine met with, pro- 
ceeded from the king's being acquainted in some measure with Chris- 
tianity, by Luidhard, who, as Harpsfield says, had prepared the way 
for him. 

Page 45. — ^^On the Christmas Dayfollowing St. Augustine's arrival, 
as Baronius observes ; and Pope Gregory, in a letter to Eulogius, an 
eastern bishop, tells him, that the success of St. Augustine was such, 
that the Christmas Day before (598), above 10,000 of the EngUsh 
were baptized. 

Page 70. — "St. Augustine's, near Canterbury. 

Page 71. — ^^ Called in tlie Saxon Chronicle, jEjh^n, i^.gthan. 

^-In the Saxon Annals, Daejj'tane and Dasjj'aTijrane, and by 
Huntington, Degfastan, now Dauston in Cumberland. 

•'^' Saxon Annal, 600. 

Page 72. — '-'And his mother Sylvia. — Saxon Ami. 

Page 79. — *^'Pope Benedict. 

Page 80. — '' By Spelman called Ausrick in Worcestershire, but falsely, 
this callage being formerly called Aulsrick ; but Dr. Smith conceives 
it to have been sub dio, at some oak, according to the ancient custom, 
for the advantage of recourse. 

Page 81. — ^Said by some wTiters to be the bishops of Lhandau, or 
Tau, St. Asaph, or Lhan Elwi, St. Patern in Cardiganshire, Bangor, 
Chester, Hen, or Hereford, Wiccior, or Worcester. Some think the 
metropolitan bishop of Caerlegeon, or Westchester, was likewise there. 
— Dr. Smith. 

^The ancient Bonium of Antoninus : it was afterwards called 
Banconnabyniz ^^^ Bonchor, from the choir, says Cambden, now 
Bangor, Is-Koed, or Is-y-Coed, «.e. under a wood, to distinguish it 
from the Bangor in Caernarv^on shire ; it was likewise called Bangor 
Monachorum. It is in Flintshire, not far from Westchester ; Leland 
says it stands in a valley. The manuscript of Mr. Robert Vaughan, 



of Henguert, tells us, that both town and monastery have felt the se- 
vere injuries of time ; that there is scarcely now any of them remain- 
ing, there being only a small village of that name, and no traces of the 
old city, except the ruins of the two principal gates. Forth Kleis and 
Forth Wgan, the former looking towards England, and the latter to- 
wards Wales, and about a mile distant from each other, from whence 
maybe conjectured the length of the city; the river Dee runs through 
the midst of it. The old British triades tell us, that in the British 
times there were in the monastery 2400 monks, who, in their turns, 
viz. (100 in every hour of the twenty-four), read prayers, and sang 
psalms continually. See Gibson's Annotations to Cambden's Britan- 
nia, Flintshire. William of Malmsbury mentions in his time many 
ruined churches, and vast heaps of rubbish, and windings, passages, 
and gateways, 

Fage 83. — ^This Bede calls the City of Legions, and not without jus- 
tice, if we examine what the great Mr. Cambden has said, of its taking 
its name from the twentieth legion, called Victrix, as he proves from 
the inscription upon some coins there found ; which see disputed by 
his annotator; it was called by the Saxons, LeTeacerten. And in 
the Saxon Annal, Lejep-ciej^tejie and Lejaceptjie, now West- 
chester. 

^Twelve hundred, with which agree Flor. and West., but the Saxon 
Annals mention but 200 ; and, therefore, I wonder Bishop Gibson (in 
his notes on Cambden) should be surprised at Mr. Hearn's reducing 
them (in the life of King Alfred) to that number, and imagine it was 
by his own authority. 

^^Itis necessary to observe, that some who would throw the odium 
of this murder upon Augustine's curse, assert this passage to have been 
added to Bede some years after his death, and it is certain the royal 
paraphraser has made no mention of his death. Mr. Whelock and 
Dr. Smith assert it to be in all the ancient Latin manuscripts they 
had seen. The time of this battle is placed by the Saxon Annals in 
607. Bishop Goodwin asserts his seeing an instrument signed by 
Augustine in 605, which Sir Henry Spelman proves spurious, no in- 
struments being used till 700. But the learned Mr. Wharton proves, 
beyond dispute, St. Augustine's death to be in 604, which was long be- 
fore this, if we follow the Saxon Annals, which place it in 607 ; and 
very long before, if we follow Archbishop Usher's and the Ulster 
Annals, which place it in 613; to this we may add Bede's authority, 
that Fope Gregory had obiits said over him in the church at Canter- 

A A 2 



356 NOTES. 

bury ; which plainly shows his death to have been before that pope's. 
And though we find him in the next chapter consecrating two bishops, 
this is frequent with Bede to go backwards for the series of every 
distinct part of his history, or to work through a branch of it at once. 

Page 84. — "^Durobnis, Durobrovis, and Duroprovis, in Antoninus's 
itinery ; in Bede Durobrevis, and at the decline of the Roman empire, 
called by contraction Roibis, to which was adjoined the Saxon, 
Caejxeji, and afterwards )^ jiopecaej^cen , in the Saxon Annals, 
Hjiopej'caejTej', now Rochester. 

^This derivation Mr. Cambden seems to doubt when he imagines it 
to be a contraction, as before mentioned ; to which agree some char- 
ters of that church ; but the name in the Saxon Annals seems to inti- 
mate it as the castle of one Hrof, as he is likewise called by Bede, and 
in English, Rhoff. Harpsfield says, that in his time there was a fa- 
mily in Kent of that name, Hrof. 

^Aug. died on the seventh kalend of June, as appears by his epitaph, 
and decree of the council of Cloveshoe, — SpJem. Con. t. i. p. 250. 

^' Which was in 613, and in that same year he was there buried. 

Page 85. — ''Tho. Spott, by what authority I know not (suppose his 
own), has given us this epitaph for genuine : 

Inclytus Anglorum proesul pius et decus altum 
Hie Augustinus requiescit corpore sanctus. 

^This epitaph in Bede is likewise disputed, from the word archbishop 
occurring in it, no such title being in the western church at that 
time. — See Dr. Stillingfleet , Orig. Sac. p. 21, 22. ,. 

^The following bishops were these, Laurentius, Mellitus, Justus, 
Honorius, Deusdedit, and Theodosius, with this inscription in 
marble — 

Septem sunt Angli primates et protopatres, 
Septem rectores septem coeloque triones, 
Septem cisternae vitae septemque lucemse, 
Et septem palmae regni, septemque coronae, 
Septem sunt stellse quas haec tenet acracellae. 

Of England primates seven, and patriarchs seven. 
Seven governors, and seven labourers in heaven. 



NOTES. 357 

Seven wells of endless life, seven candles light. 
Seven palms of this our land, seven diadems bright. 
Seven shining stars this vaulted floor contains. 

Page 86. — ^^Dagan is said to have come from the monastery of 
Banchor, in Ireland, and was bishop to the Scots. Bale says, he 
wrote one book on the British churches. — Smith. 

Page 88. — ^^The isles of Anglesea and Man. 

Page 97. — ^^ Regal city. This place the learned Cambden discovers 
to be near the city Derventius of Antoninus, afterwards called Der- 
went, where is now a village called Aldby, i. e. the old habitation, and 
near which are the ruins of an ancient castle. The river Doruven- 
tion is now called the Derwent. 

Page 98. — "^The Saxon Annals mention no number. Matthew Paris 
says thirty. Several manuscripts of Bede have twelve. 

Page 99. — ^This chapter should have been placed before the former, 
which takes the year of 626 ; for Pope Boniface died the 22nd of Oc- 
tober, 625. — Smith. 

Page 108. — ^7 A small river rising in Sherwood forest, so called, which 
gives name to a village where this battle was fought, called Idleton in 
Not tingham shire . 

Page 111. — ^^Godmanham in Yorkshire, still retaining the name, i.e. 
a receptacle for gods, and near it is a place called Wigton, i. e. a place 
of idols. — Camb. Britan. 

Page 112. — ^Now Yeverinin Glendale, a valley in Northumberland, 
so called from the little river Glen running through it. 

^^A part of the river Swale 

Page 113.— ^Melfield in Northumberland. 

^An ancient city, called by Antoninus, Cataracton, Mr. Cambden 
conceives from a fall of waters of the Swale, which dashes among 
rocks near it ; it is now a despicable small village, still retaining the 
name of Cattarick and Cattirickbridge, and showing as marks of its 



858 NOTES. 

antiquity and former grandeur, the Roman way, coins, bases of pillars, 
and ruins of castles. 

^Or Cambodunum, a ruined city near Almondbury in Yorkshire, 
where Paulinus, says Cambden, built this church in honour of St. 
Alban, whence it was called Albansbury. King iElfred, in his ver- 
sion, calls it Donajzelba-Donafeld, which the ingenious Dr. Gale 
thinks to be Tanfield, near Rippon. Cambden is of opinion, that the 
stones are even to this day coloured with the fire when this place was 
burnt, which Bishop Gibson disproves, but confirms the violence of 
the fire, by asserting that lumps of cinders are dug up, where even the 
earth seems to be melted in the mass. 

^'"That part of the county of Yorkshire where Leeds now stands, not 
the city itself, which was not built till after the destruction of Campo- 
dunum; the province is in the Saxon called Loybei'. 

^^Not only a large forest, but a great part of Yorkshire, called so from 
the grove of elms, in which Dr. Smith thinks Berwick included ; and 
it is not unlikely that this is the monastery where Pope JEneas Sylvius 
was entertained when legate here, of which he has given such a plea- 
sant description. 

Page 1 14. — -^Domnoc andDumoc; in the Saxon Annals, Domoc; and 
in King Alfred, DomnioC-caeiTeii, now Dunwich in Suffolk. Bisus, 
the fourth from Fcclix, divided this see into two parts, being old, 
and unable to manage so large a province ; one he placed at the little 
village called North-Elm-ham, and the other here ; it was afterwards 
united in 955, and removed by Ersastus, the twenty-second bishop, to 
Thetford, and by Losing, the twenty-fourth bishop, to Norwich. 

^"^Lindseyis by Cambden computed to be the third part of Lincolnshire. 

Page 115. — ^A monastery in Lincolnshire, whose ruined walls stand 
near the river Witham, in that county ; it was burnt down by the 
Danes, and afterwards rebuilt by Gilbert (or Walter) de Gaunt, Earl 
of Lincoln, as Cambden writes ; but it should seem a different place 
by the Monasticon from Bradney, which Gaunt repaired, for he granted 
this latter the church and lordship of Partney. — Mon. Aug. p. 143. 

^^ Said by Mr. Cambden to be Southwell in Nottinghamshire, in which 
church history is related this ])aptism of Paulinus, who is likewise said 
to have built that church. 



NOTES. 559 

Page 118. — ^The disputes are various about the time of this prelate's 
death. Bede is silent as to the year. Others say 632. The writer of 
the Saxon Annals places it 627. — Ra- de Dicet, 629, and Dr. Smith, 630. 

Page 122. — "In the Saxon Annals, He'S-jielba, now Hatfield- 
Chace in Yorkshire. 

^-In the Saxon Annals, second Id. October, and in Flor. die Iduum 
Octobris. His death was in the martyrology celebrated on the fourth 
of December. 

Page 124. — ^This village is now called Akeburg. 

Page 125. — ^"^The kingdom of the Northumbrians was divided into 
two provinces, Deira and Bernicia. Deira reached from the Humber 
to the Tees ; the other from the Tees to the Tweed. 

Page 126. — "'Mr. Cambden calls it Devil's-burn, by what authority is 
uncertain. The Latin copies of Bede have it Denisesburna, and King 
Alfred's Saxon Paraphrase, Deni]'e]^bii]ina and Denijjep-bujina. 
Cambden says it was called in old books Devilston, and now Dilston, 
a seat of the Ratcliffs in Cumberland, and gave the title of Baron to 
the late unhappy Earl of Derwentwater. 

Page 127. — '^In the Archives of Durham are many charters with the 
ancient seal of St. Cuthbert annexed, in which is the head of St. Os- 
wald on one side, and his cross on the reverse, as Dr. Smith observes, 
who has given us the impression. 

^In the Saxon Paraphrase, lieo}:en]:elb ; in Cambden, heapenjzelb, 
or Heavenfield, now Haledon, or Holydown in Northumberland. 
This battle Malmsbury says was fought against Penda, king of the 
Mercians, who was at that time General of Cadwallin's forces. Mr. 
Cambden (as Bishop Gibson obser\'es) has placed the battle of Oswald 
at Heafenfelth, whereas Bede only mentions the erecting the cross 
there; for the battle was at Denisburn. At this Heafenfelth was 
built a chapel dedicated to St. Oswald. 

Page 130.-— ^°Hii gives the title of Earl to one of the family of the 
Campbels. — It is now called I-combkill 

^^Bede here means ;^.ipunt Grampus, of which the highest part is 
called Drum Albin. 



360 



NOTES. 



Page 131, — "^This Mr, Cambden takes tobe the LeucopibiaofPtolomy, 
and thinks his transcribers have mistaken the original, AeuK oiKiSia, 
i. €. White Houses. The author of the Saxon Chronicle calls it 
b pitejuie, AVhit-herne ; it is in Galloway in Scotland. Hector 
Boethius makes no scruple of placing this under the Scottish Govern- 
ment in Bede's time, and Dempster daringly asserts that it was 
always so ; whereas the contrary appears plainly by Bede's last chapter 
of his fifth book, when reckoning up the bishops under Ceolwulf, he 
mentions Pecthelm, bishop of this see, lately erected. 

^'Now Durrogh in King's-County in Ireland. 

^This the learned Primate Usher contradicts, and urges from the 
Ulster Annals his keeping a bishop always in his monastery; and his 
successor, Adamnauus, tells us that he paid submission to a certain 
prelate upon breaking bread at the altar: Adamnan. in vit. Columbi apud 
Canisii Antiqu. tom. 5. Yet this proves nothing against what Bede says. 

Page 132. — *'The fourth abbot from St. Columb. 

Page 135. — -' King .-Elfred, in his Paraphrase, calls it CyneliCdil- 
biij-h, and Cyiielicaii bypij, ^'- ^- ^ ^^yal Seat. It is called by 
the Sa.xon Annals, bebanbupj and Bebba-bupj, but the deriva- 
tion from Bebba is not there mentioned; he says it was built by King 
Ida, and first surrounded with a turf (and after with a stone) wall; it 
is now called Bamborough in Northumberland ; this arm, the writer 
of the Saxon Chronicle says, was in his time at Bebban-barc. Sim. 
Dunelm. says that one Suardebrand, a monk of their house, had often 
seen it. It was carried to Peterburg ; and Ingulfus of Croyland says 
he remembered a prior, who, in the Danish times, fled from Peter- 
burgh with some of his fraternity, and carried with them the arm of 
St. Oswald to the isle of Eli; but that many years after it was shown 
in the monastery at Peterborough. 

Page 136. — ^ Saxon for the Westward inhabitants. 

^ In the Saxon Chron.Do]\c-cea]Xjie and Dopice ceajTjie, now 
called Dorchester, a small decayed to^vn in Oxfordshire, situate on the 
banks of the Thame ; and, for its watery situation, called by Leland, 
Hydropolis. It has been long decayed, upon remo\dng the see to 
Lincoln. And even in Malmsbury's time it was a small, unfrequented 
village— remarkable, nevertheless, for the beauty of its churches, and 
the care taken of them. — Cambd. 



NOTES. 861 

Page 139 — ^ Called also Burgundofara. 

^In Brige was a province of France, called now Brie, in which Fara 
built a religious house, called to this day, from the foundress, Fare- 
monstier. — Dr. Smith. 

^^ Chelles in France, where Bathildis founded a nunnery. — Ibid. 

^^Now called Andeli sur Seine. 

Page 141. — ^^InBrompton, Marsfeld; in the Saxon Annals, COaren- 
uelb, as it is likewise in King Alfred's paraphrase; a village on the 
western bounds of Shropshire, now called Oswestre, or Oswald' s-tree? 
in Welsh, Croix Oswald, from that prince's name, and the miraculous 
cross here fixed. Leland observes, there is a fair church with a 
tower steeple dedicated to him ; where was formerly a church called 
White Church. 

2" He is celebrated in the Martyrology on the 5th of August. 

Page 144. — '^Bardney in Lincolnshire. — See 1. 12, c. 16. 

145.— Seel. 11, c. 16. 



Page 150. — ^^In the time of Gundulfus, Mr. Cambden says the 
church of St. Andrew was repaired. Dr. Smith says it was pulled 
down, and the bones of Paulinus enshrined the fourth of the ides of 
January, on which day that church was wont to commemorate him. 

^^In the Saxon paraphrase, pill}:8enef-bun ; notwithstanding 
Bede's exactness in describing it, we cannot now point out the 
place. I suppose it was inconsiderable in his time, which made 
him the more exact ; and then it is now no wonder that so many suc- 
ceeding ages have swept away even the name. 

Page 1 5 1 .— s Called by King ^Elfred's paraphrase, Onjedinjum ; a 
small village in Richmondshire, where Enfleda, sister of Oswin, built a 
monastery, of which there remains not so much as the ruins at this day. 

Page 154. — ^^ An island in the German Ocean, two miles from Bam- 
borow Castle, surrounded with rocks, with a fort in the middle of it, 
where St. Cuthbert is said to have built a city, as Bede calls it, for re- 
ligious people. — See his Life of St. Cuthbert. 



362 NOTES. 

Page 159.— ^^ In King iElfred, Cneoj:e]ii]'-bup3 ; it is now called 
Burg Castle in Suffolk. Where this monastery stood, in Mr. Camb- 
den's time, was nothing but broken walls, flints, and British bricks, 
quite overgrown with thorns and briars. There was an old tradition, 
that this monastery was afterwards inhabited by Jews, and a way 
there called Jews'-way, seems to countenance that opinion. To this 
monastery Cambden thinks King Sigebert retired ; but Thomas 
Eliensis, in the Monasticon, assures us it was to St. Edmonsbury. 

^ There were three about his Life, of which one was written by an 
anonymous author, not long after his death ; the second was likewise 
by an anonymous author; these the Abbot Arnulfus, in the 11th 
century, republished with alterations. 

Page 163. — ^-The reliques of Furseus are preserved in the Collegiate 
Church at Peronne, in France, which is dedicated to him. — Dr. Smith. 

Page 1G4. — "And was buried at Dunwich ; thence removed to 
Soham, a village near the isle of Heli, upon the edge of the lake, for- 
merly dangerous to ships, but now there is a way to go over the 
marshes on foot, where are still to be seen the ruins of the church 
burnt by the Danes. The body of the Saint, after long search, was 
found, and buried at Ramsey. (Malmsb. de Pont. II.) His day is 
celebrated the 8th of March. — Dr. Smith. 

Page 165.— ^nValton. 

^Gateshead, opposite to Newcastle, as Southwark to London ; there 
remains now no traces of the monastery of Uttan. 

Page 166. — ^Reppington in Derbyshire. 

Page 167.— ^^^Ythance stir, and in King yElfred, Yppanceaj'tejl, 
on the river Pant, in Essex ; there are no remains of the city now, for 
Ralph Niger long since has told us it had been, before his time, swal- 
lowed up in the river Pant ; the river is now called Froshwel, and a 
spring near it, to this day, Pant's-well ; as for the place where the 
city stood, it is supposed to be on the utmost point of Denbigh hun- 
dred, in Essex, where now stands a village, called St. Peter's on the 
Wall. 

Page 168. — ^ Saxon paraphrase, Tillabujih, now Tilbury in Essex. 



NOTES. 363 

Page 169. — ''Rendlesham is in Suffolk. Bede tells us that it takes 
its name from the owner, of which the royal paraphraser takes no 
notice. 

Page 170. — ^^ Supposed to be near Whitby in Yorkshire. 

Page 172.— 32 Saxon pmpaeb, the river Arc, or Broad-Arc, in 
Yorkshire. The place where this battle was fought is called Win- 
widfield (pmpib}:elba) ; which Mr. Cambden supposes from the 
battle, but it is plain that the river gave the name. 

Page 173. — i^J^eojTta, now Hartlepool, upon the sea-side, in the 
bishopric of Durham. Huntington calls it Cervi Insula, and says that 
Heiua, a religious woman, built the monastery. 

^^In King Alfred, btjaeonephalh ; in the Saxon Chronicle, 
bteonej'heale : so called from ftjieonb, littus and neal Angulus, 
a corner or nook of a shore, according to the ingenious Mr. Somner. 
Mr. Cambden thinks it signifies a bay of safety ; and Junius says that 
lialh signifies an eminent building, whence comes our hall. It is 
now Whitby in Yorkshire. 

^Loidis is now called Leeds. 

Page 175. — ^3 Of this famous controversy at Whitby, concerning the 
observance of Easter and the ecclesiastical tonsure, no mention is 
made in the paraphrase of King ^Elfred, in which both chapters are 
omitted; neither do the Saxon Annals mention it, which has occa- 
sioned several to think there was no such meeting; and Bishop 
Nicholson pretends to prove there was not : but the credit of Bede is 
beyond them all. 

Page 183. — ^^ A monastery near Jidburgh in Teifidale ; it is now one 
of the Scottish Presbyteries in that county. 

Page l85.—^^Fegnslaech. In King iElfred, Pepnaleab ; in the 
Saxon Chronicle, Pajele. Thought by Dr. Smith to be Finchale, 
two miles from Durham. 

^^ Rathmelsigi is now Melifont in Ireland. 

Page 187. — ^^In Compendio, in France, where was held a synod. 



364 NOTES. 

under King Pepin ; and where afterwards Charles the Bald founded 
a monastery, to the honour of the Blessed Virgin, now called St. 
Cornehus. 

Page 195. — '^In the province of Picardy in France; so called then 
from the river Quenta, now St. Jesse-sur-Mer. 

Page 197. — '"'The errors urged by Theodore, in Ceadda's consecra- 
tion, were these two — the first, that he was ordained to a see, then 
suppUed by Wilfrid ; the second, the Bishops assisting at his ordina- 
tion were such as celebrated Easter according to the British Church. 

Page 198. — ^In King ^Elfred, Licit}:elb ; in the Saxon Chron., 
LiceC}:elb ; thought by some to be so called from a field of carcasses, 
there being a great slaughter of Christians under Dioclesian ; and the 
city bears for its arms an escutcheon landscape uith martyrs. But 
others take it to be derived from the Saxon Leccian, from the wateri- 
ness of the place ; it is now called Litchfield, where long after Bede's 
death, viz. in the year 1148, Roger de Clinton, the bishop thereof, 
founded a stately church in honour of the blessed Virgin, and St. 
Ceadda or Chad. 

Page 201. — ^Of the Hfe and miracles of this St. Ceadda or Chad, 
Pits says Dainel, bishop of Winchester (mentioned by Bede), wrote a 
book ; but I suppose he had no other ground for saying so than his 
communicating some particulars of him to Bede. 

Page 204. — ^So called to this day. 

•^King.Elfred, COaijeo ; now called Maio, a bishopric annexed to 
the archbishopric of Tuam. 

Page 205. — ^King Oswy died the loth day of February, and was 
buried in St. Peter's church at Streanshall, or WTiitby. 

^King .Elfred, heoj\C}:eojib ; in the Saxon Chron., heojiOCjiorb, 

now Hartford. 

Page 206. — ^According to the book of Canons at the Council of 
Chalcedon. — Dr. Smith. 

Page 207.— ^"In King .Elfred's paraphrase, Ijlo}:ej'-liooh ; in the 



NOTES. 365 

Saxon Chron., IjIoucj'Iioii, and Irlofej^boo. Writers are divided 
about fixing this Synod, some placing it upon a long tract of land be- 
tween the Thames and Medway, called Hoo, where is a town upon a 
chalk hill, called Cliff at Ho ; of this opinion are the two great anti- 
quaries, Spelman and Talbot, to which Lambard likewise gives in, 
though with caution ; it is likely there had been no further inquiry ; 
but the kings of Mercia being at all the Synods called, makes it very 
probable that Clovesho was in Mercia, and not in Kent, which Mr. 
Somner since has, with great show of reason, placed at Abingdon in 
Berkshire, and the limits of the Mercians ; and this he confirms by the 
book of Abbington, wherein that place is anciently written Shovesham, 
which, by fault of transcription, is probably a corruption of Clove- 
sham, (to which Leland seems to allude in calling it Seukesham.) 
This being in the heart of the nation. Bishop Gibson observes was 
properest for a general resort in church affairs, as well as in others ; 
for the Abbington book says, " Hie Sedes Regia, hie, cum de regni 
prsecipuis et arduis tractaretur negotiis, concursus fiebat populi." 
Here was the king's court, here the people resorted, when they would 
consult about the greatest and weightiest affairs of the nation. 

Page 208. — ^Now Peterborough. Sexulph was not founder, but first 
abbot of this monastery ; it was begun by Peada, and finished by 
Wulfhere ; there is a long account of the foundation of this monas- 
tery in the Saxon Chron. and a charter thought to be spurious. 

Page 209. — " Ireojitej^ije, now called Chertsey, a town in Surrey, 
standing upon the side of the river Thames, where Frithwald, a petty 
prince under Wulfhere, king of the Mercians, and the bishop Erken- 
wald, built the aforesaid monasteries. Here for some time rested 
the body of that devout king. Hen. VL, till it was afterwards removed 
to Windsor ; this abbey, at the dissolution, was valued at six hundred 
and eighty-nine pounds. The house was standing, till lately, an ancient 
and venerable pile, till the late proprietor, a zealous bigot to fanati- 
cism, thought fit to carry on a more thorough reformation, and at a 
great expense pulled it down, and erecting in its stead a fabric as 
ridiculous as the caprice of its founder. It perhaps may not be impro- 
per to acquaint the reader this is that Chertsey where the great Mr. 
Cowley lived a life of retirement, and breathed his last, whose bowels, 
being embalmed, were buried in an urn in the church-yard joining 
to the chancel. 

^^Byjicinjum, now Berking in Essex. 



366 NOTES. 

Page 216. — ^Tliis Bishop Erconwald died at Berking, and was buried 
in St. Paul's, London, in the body of the church ; but in the year 
1148, he was removed to the east side of the wall, above the high 
altar, and the corpse enclosed in a rich shrine, and valuable offerings 
made to it. In the year 1386, Robert Bray broke, bishop of London, 
constituted his festival on the last day of April. — DugdaWs History of 
St. Paul's. 

Page 217. — "^This tomb was to be seen in St. Paul's till the confla- 
gration in 1666. 

Page 219. — ^^ In the Latin, Rhypum ; in King/Elfred, )^]\y]?p9etna 
cypic, now Rippon in Yorkshire, where Wilfrid, archbishop of York, 
founded a stately monastery, curious, as Malmsbury observed, in his 
time, for its arched vaults, fine pavements, and winding entries ; this 
was burnt by the Danes, and afterwards rebuilt by Odo, the archbishop 
of Canterbury, where was St. AVilfred's needle. 

Page 220. — '-^Now called Boscham in Sussex. This was the arch- 
bishop of Canterbury's, till the Earl Godwin taking a fancy to it, re- 
quired of the archbishop to give him Bosham, i. e. a kiss ; the archbishop 
replied, " I give you Bosham :" whereupon he took possession, and by 
arms kept it. It was a place of retreat to his son Harold, and from 
hence he set out in a pleasure-boat, when the wind drove him to Nor- 
mandy, where Duke ^ViUiam obliged him to surrender his right to 
the crown. 

Page 221. — -'Seals, now Selsey in Sussex; the bishop's see was re- 
moved from hence to Chichester by Stygaud, the twenty-second ])ishop. 
Mr. Cambden obser^^es, that at low water are to be seen the ruins of 
the city, here mentioned by Bede. 

Page 226. — -4n the Latin called ad Lapidem ; in King .Alfred, 
v/CrjTane ; a small village in Hampshire, now called Stoneham. 

=^In the Latin, Hreutford ; in King Alfred, )^Jieobj:opb ; formerly 
called Redford from the stream, nov/ Redbridge in Hampshire. 

Page 227. — ^^Homelea, now called Hamble. 

Page 228. — '"Now Bishop's-Hatfield in Hertfordshire. 

Page 233. — '' Supposed to be the Camboritum of Antoninus, as ap- 



NOTES. 36 



pears by Bede's calling it a decayed city ; it is now called Grantchester, 
a village not far from Cambridge. 

Page 239. — ^'^TinmoutbinYorksliire. Mr. Cambden will by no means 
allow this derivation of Bede's ; but, on the contrary, is very confident 
that it was in the Roman times called Tunnocellium, and that the 
Saxon derivation is not taken from a priest's name, but that of a river. 
But it is likely that Bede knew best. 

Page 242. — "^The Calcaria of Antoninus ; thought to be Tadcaster 
in Yorkshire. 

Page 245. — ^^ A place in Whitby Strand, thirteen miles from Whitby. 

Page 250. — ^^The Saxon paraphrase of King /Elfred has it myn- 
j'tejip mon meme]? Erolubej' bupjh, i.e. the monastery that 
men called Coludeburgh, and in the Saxon Chronicle it is so called. 
The fire is said to be sent as a judgment from heaven. The place is 
now called Coldingham, and is in the Marches between Scotland and 
England. 

Page 272. — ^Now called Watton, a village in the east part of the 
pro^'ince of York ; it was afterwards given to the Gilbertines by 
Eustace, son of John, in the reign of King Stephen. 

Page 273. — "^The village of this Thane, or Earl, is said to be South- 
Burton, two miles from Beverley; and his daughter, Yolfride, was a 
nun there; he gave to that monastery with his daughter, the manor 
of Walkingtone ; Yolfride died the third of the ides of March, 742, 
and was buried at Beverley. The manor of Walkingtone is now the 
Bishop of Durham's. — Dr. Smith. 

Page 278. — ^i. e. in the wood of the Deiri ; it is now called Beverley 
in Yorkshire. This church of St. John of Beverley was so esteemed 
in those times, that King iEthelstane gave it vast privileges by this 
grant : 

Als free make I thee. 

As heart can think, or eye may see. 

He was buried, Bede tells us, in the porch of his church, which 
afterwards took its name from him. 

And in the year 1664, on the 24th of September, upon opening a 
grave, they found a vault of freestone, fifteen feet long and two 



368 NOTES. 

broad ; at the head and at the feet a foot and a half broad ; within it 
a sheet of lead four feet long, and in that the ashes, and six beads, 
(whereof three crumbled to dust upon touching them), of the remain- 
ing three, two were supposed to be cornelians ; with three great brass 
pins and four large iron nails : upon the sheet was a leaden plate, 
with this inscription : 

+ Anno ab incarnatione Domini mclxxxviii, combusta fuit haec 
ecclesia in mense Septembri, in sequenti nocte post festum sancti 
Matthaei Apostoli, et in ann. mcxcvii, 6. Idus Martii facta fuit inqui- 
sitio reliquiarum beati Johannis in hoc loco et inventa sunt hsec Ossa 
in orientali parte sepulchri et hie recondita, et pulvis ceraento mixtus 
ibidem inventus est et reconditus. 

i.e. In the year of our Lord 1188, this church was burnt, in the 
month of September, the night after the Feast of St. Matthew, the 
Apostle; and in the year 1197, the 6th of the ides of March, there 
was a search made for the relics of the blessed John, in this place, 
and these bones were found in the east part of the sepulchre, and 
here replaced, and dust mixed with cement was found there also, 
and again replaced. 

Upon it lay a box of lead, seven inches long, six broad, and five 
high, wherein were several pieces of bones mixed with a little dust, 
and yielding a sweet smell ; all these were re-interred in the middle 
aisle of the church. 



INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 



Aaron, 17. 319. 

Abraham, 305. 

Acca, 148. 222. 313. 316. 335. 

Acha, 135. 

Adam, 60. 305. 

Adamannus, or Adamnan, 250. 
300, 301. 329, 330. 

Adbarve, 208. 

Adda, 165. 

Addi, 274. 

Adgebrin, 112. 

Adrian, 2. 194—196. 315. 334. 

Adtwiford, 259. 

-'Eburcurnig, 23. 

.^Ua, 79. 

.Elthelwald, 93. 150. 172. 

iEtius, 24. 

Mtla, 243. 

Africa, 178. 

Agabus, 11. 

Agatha, 236, 237. 

Agatho, 177. 229, 230. 311, 312. 

Agilbert, 137, 138. 176, 177- 182. 
187. 195. 217. 236, 237. 310. 

Aidan, 129, 130. 132. 134. 151— 
155.175,176.183.242.258.332. 
Alaric, 20. 
Alani, 21. 

Alban, St., 14—17. 33. 36. 
Albinus, 2, 3. 316. 
Albion, 5. 
Alchfrid, 172. 177. 
Alduith, 22, 23. 
Aldfrid, 255. 278. 295. 300, 301. 

305. 310. 312. 314. 329. 
Aldgist, 311. 

Aldulf, 113. 228. 242. 335. 
Aldwulf, 334, 335. 
Aldwin, 145. 335. 
Aldhelm, 306. 



Alexandria, 301. 322. 

Alhfleda, 165. 

Alhfrid, 150. 176. 187- 

Alne, 259. 

Alric, 333. 

Aluchred, 342. 

Ambrosius Aurelins, 28. 

Amfleat, 70. 

Arnulfus, 301, 302. 

Amwin, 340. 

Anastasius, 303. 

Anatolius, 129. 180. 

Andilegam, 139- 

Andhun, 226. 

Andrew, 84. 150. 316. 334. 

Androgius, 10. 

Angles, 79. 82. 96. 99. 105. 114. 
116.139. 283. 

Angles, Midland, 28. 164—167. 

173. 
Angles, East, 3. 27, 28. 88. 114. 
139. 157, 158. 164. 169. 172. 
176. 199. 205. 208. 228. 231. 
235. 242. 
Anna, 137.139. 158,159.172.231. 
Aquileia, 19. 
Aquila, 178. 
Arcadius, 19. 
Arian, 18. 
Arius, 19. 
Aries, 195. 
Armenia, 6. 
Armorica, 7. 
Armoricans, 38. 
Asclepiodotus, 13. 
Asia, 178. 
Asterias, 136. 
Attila, 25. 

At the Wall, 165. 167. 
At the Stone, 226. 



370 



INDEX. 



Atvald, 226. 

Augustin, St., 20. 

Augustine, 40 — 43. 45. 47, 48. 50 

—52. 58. 60—62. 64, 65. 68. 70. 

76, 11. 80—85. 83. 118. 258. 
Augustus, 10—13. 19, 20. 24. 27. 

39. 
Aurelius Commodus, 11. 

Baddesdown Hill, 30. 

Badwine, 208. 

Baithanus, 120. 

Balthild, 310. 

Bancornaburg, 8 1 . 

Bangor, 83. 

Basil, 6. 

Bassianus Antoninus, 12. 

Bassus, 123. 

Beaduthegen, 265. 

Beardanen, 144. 

Bebba, 135. 154. 

Bede, 1. 340. 342. 

Begu, 245. 

Benedict, 229, 230. 309. 317. 342. 

Benjamin, 71. 

Beonred, 341. 

Beorht, 254. 

Berchtwald, 288. 

Bernicians, 113. 125. 128. 131. 

135. 150. 173. 219. 300. 
Berta, 43. 
Berchthum, 225. 
Berhthum, 270, 271. 
Bernuin, 226. 

Berthwald, 85, 282. 314. 334. 
Bethlehem, 302. 
Betti, 165. 
Birinus, 136. 217- 
Biscop, 229. 309- 
Bisi, 205. 208. 
Bledla, 25. 
Blithrythe, 228. 
Boisil, 256, 257. 260. 283, 284. 
Boniface, 87. 92, 93. 99- 102, 103. 

116. 164. 208. 309. 314. 341. 
Boructuarians, 283, or Boruc- 

tuars, 288. 
Bosa, 218, 219. 243. 272. 317- 
Bosanham, 220. 
Bosel, 243, 244. 
Bothelm, 128. 
Boulogne, 70. 
Bregusuit, 244. 



Britain, 5. 7—14. 18. 21, 22. 27- 
30, 31. 37—39. 41, 42. 45. 51, 
52. 62, 63. 1^. 79. 84. 86—89. 
96. 108. HI. 115. 122. 129— 
131. 135. 137. 148. 167. 185. 
187—189. 194. 196, 197. 202, 
203. 219. 227—230. 243, 244. 
254. 280. 283. 288. 290. 300, 
301. 307. 311. 314. 317. 322. 

Britannicus, 11. 

Britons, 19. 22 — 25. 27- 81. 83. 
86—88. 244. 254. 300. 306. 

Briudun, 335. 

Brocmal, 83. 

Bructers, 283. 

Burghelra, 220. 

Burgundy, 114. 

Csedwal, 122. 126. 

Caesar, 119. 

Caiaphas, 299- 

Cale, 139. 242. 

Campania, 194. 

Candida Casa, 131. 

Canterbury, 2. 43. 45. 70. 84, 85. 

92, 93. 118. 138.164. 176. 193. 

197. 205. 228. 281. 335. 
Carausius, 13. 
Carlegions, 83. 
Carhsle, 26 1. 
Caroloman, 341 
Cassibelan, 10. 
Cataract, 113. 124. 150. 
Ceadd, 197, 198. 202, 203. 
Ceadda, 3. 165. 170, l7l. 187, 

188. 310. 
Ceadwal, 225. 278—281. 
Ceaulin, 88, 169, 236, 237- 289. 
Cedd, 3. 167. l7o, 171. 177. 187, 

188. 203. 
Cedmon, 248. 
Celestinus, 24. 
Celin, 169. 171. 
Cenwaih, 217. 

Ceolfrid, 229. 317, 318. 342. 
Ceolla, 166. 173. 
Ceolred, 307. 
Ceohvulf or Ceolwulph, 334, 335. 

340. 
Ceortesei, or the Island of Ceorot, 

209. 
Cerdic, 244. 
Chalcedon, 228. 



INDEX. 



371 



Chaldaens, 28. 

Charles, 341. 

Charybdis, 323. 

Chester, 17- 

Christ, 45. 49. 63. 72. 79, 80. 82. 

90, 91. 97, 98. 108. 112, 113. 

122. 126. 131, 132. 138—140. 

165. 167—169. 171. 190. 222. 

224. 227. 232. 235 — 237- 241, 

242. 246. 283. 286—288. 311. 

316. 
Christians, 79. 
Cilicia, 194. 
Cinfrid, 233. 
Cinvese, 172. 
Claudius, 10, 11. 
Clement, 85. 289. 
Clofeshooh, 207- 
Cnobheresburg orCnobher's town, 

159. 
Coenburg, 272. 
Coenred, 295. 331. 333, 334. 
Coifi, 109, 110. 
Coinred. 307. 314. 
Coinwalch, 136, 137- 
Colman, 176—182. 185. 193. 203, 

204. 
Cologne, 287. 
Coludi, 232. 250. 
Columb, 130, 131. 181, 182. 284. 

329. 
Columba, 284. 
Columbanus, S6. 120. 
Columbkill, 284. 
Compiegne, 187. 
Constans, 21. 
Constantine, 18. 21. 68. 75. 119. 

229. 302. 307. 
Constantinople, 25. 74. 227, 228. 

230. 301. 
Conwulf, 340. 
Corinth, 178. 
Cromanus, 120. 
Cudbald, 314. 
Cudred, 341. 
Cuningham, 290. 

Cuthbert, 4. 254. 256—268. 340. 

Cyilc, 341. 

Cymwulf, 341. 

Cynebert, 3. 

Cynebil, 170, 171. 

Cyneburga, 165. 

Cynegilsus, 136, 



Cynemund, 153. 
Cynibercht, 335. 
Cyril, 229. 

Dacore, 266. 

Dagan, 86, 87- 

Dal, 8. 

Dalreudins, 8. 

Dalfin, 176. 

Dalphin, 309. 

Damascus, 301. 

Damian, 164. 

Damianus, 197. 

Danes, 283. 

Daniel, 3, 227. 306. 335. 

David, 58. 302. 304. 

Dearmach, 131. 

Deda, 115. 

Degsastane, or Degse-stone, 71. 

Deiri, 79. 113. 125. LS^5.- 150. 169- 

173. 219. 270. 
Denises-burn, or Denises-brook, 

126. 
Dervvent, 111. 261. 
Deusdedit, 92, 93. 164. 188, 189, 

193. 197. 
Dicul, 220. 
Dicull, 163. 
Dinma, 165. 173. 
Dimanus, 120. 
Dinooth, 81. 
Diocletianus, 12, 13. 18. 
Dionysius Exignus, 326. 
Dommoc, 114. 
Don, 113. 
Dorchester, 243. 
Dorcic, 136. 
Doruvention, 97. 
Drithelm, 297. 
Dunchad, 332. 

Eaba, 174. 

Eadbald, 89. 92, 93. 100. 103. 

138. 
Eadbercht, 333. 
Eadbert, 174. 340. 341. 
Eadberbt, 175. 263, 264. 306. 
Eadda, 220. 
Eadfrid, 112. 
Eadgar, 219. 
Eadgyth, 211. 
Eadhedun, 188. 
Ealdbercht, 335. 



372 



NDEX. 



Eanfled, 98. 255. 307- 

Eanfleda, 123. 153. 173, 174. 

Eanfrid, 122. 125, 126. 220. 

Eanher, 220, 

Eanred, 341. 

Eappa, 220. 222, 223. 

Earconbert, 138, 139- 308. 

Earcongota, 139. 

Earconwald, 208. 

East Sea, 84. 

Eata, 183. 219. 228. 232. 256, 

257. 260. 270. 284. 
Ebbercurnig. 
Ebrin, 195. 
Ecci, 208. 

Ecgberht, or Egberht, 132. 185, 
186. 188. 192. 195. 202. 254, 
255. 283—285. 332—334. 340. 
342. 
Ecgfrid, 172. 205. 218, 219. 221. 
228. 231, 232. 238. 254—256. 
259, 260. 311, 312. 
Ecgric, 158. 
Edan, 71. 
Eddi, 197. 
Edgils, 253. 
Edilburg, 212—214. 
Edilburga, 96. 
Edilbald, 341. 
Edilhart, 340. 
Edilhere, 172. 
Edilhun, 185, 186. 
Edihvine, 219- 

Edwin, 96, 97. 99. 102. 106, 107- 
111. 113. 115, 116, 122, 123. 
125. 135. 141. 241. 255. 

Edilwalch, 220, 221. 225. 295. 
340, 341. 

Egypt, 65, 178. 248. 320. 

Egyptians, 180. 320. 

Elafius, 37. 

Eldreda, 236, 237. 

Eleutherus, 11. 

Elfled, 255. 

Elfwin, 238, 239- 

Elhed, 219. 

EUi, 88. 

Elmete, 113. 

Ely, 232, 233. 

Emmesonon, 195. 

England, 5. 7- 28. 39. 205. 282. 

Eni, 158. 

EoUa, 306. 



Eorpwold, 113, 114. 123. 157. 

Ephesus, 228. 

Erconberht, 233. 

Erconbert, 193. 

Erconvald, 163. 

Erithubert, 342. 

Esica, 211. 

Esius, 3. 

Etbearwe, 198. 

Etheldrid, 231. 240. 

Etheldryd, 199- 

Ethelfrid, 71. 82, 83. 105, 106. 

108. 144. 228. 
Ethilberht, 333. 
Ethildrith, 112. 
Ethilbald, 335. 
Ethilburga, 102, 112. 123. 139, 

140. 209. 
Ethilhild, 145. 
Ethilred, 218, 219- 238, 239. 244. 

295. 307. 313, 314. 
Ethilwald, 268. 
Ethihvin, 112. 145. 151. 185. 
Etius, 38. 
Eulalia, 236, 237- 
Eumer, 97- 
Euphemia, 236, 237 
Eusebius, 326. 
Eutropiiis, 18. 
Eutyches, 227, 228. 
Eutychius, 74. 
Eve, 60, 238. 
Exodus, 319. 
Ezekiel, 75. 



Fame, 139. 256. 264. 268, 269- 

Faron, 195. 

Felix, 72. 114. 158. 164. 176. 

Field of Oaks, 131. 

Finan, 155. 165—167. 175, 176. 

185. 
Ford of Reeds, 226. 
Forthere, 98. 306. 335. 
France, 5. 50, 51. 70. 86. 90. 92. 

117. 137. 139. 157, 158. 163. 

175, 176. 178. 187. 194, 195. 

197. 242. 309, 310. 313. 
Franks, 13. 21. 42, 43, 139- 163, 

286, 287. 341. 
French, 301. 
Freso, 240. 
Friggth, 245. 



INDEX. 



373 



Friseland, 285, 286. 288, 289. 

311. 
Frisons, 148. 283. 289. 
Fruidbert, 340. 
Fruidwald, 340. 
FuUan, 163. 
Fursius, 158. 160. 

Gallien, 47. 

Garmans, 283. 

Gaul,Belgic, 5. 9, 10. 18, 19- 21. 

30. 
Gauls, 9. 18. 139. 
Gebmund, 218, 282. 
Genesis, 248. 
Genlade, 282. 
Genoa, 136. 

Gentiles, 80. 178. 189- 217- 286. 
Germans, 9. 

Germany, 5. 27. 37- 148. 283. 
Gerontius, 21. 
GessoriacLim, 5. 
Geta, 12. 

Gevissae, 90. 126. 227- 
Gevisseans, 136. 
Gevissi, 90. 
Gildas 39- 
Girvii, 208. 
Girvii Southern, 231. 
Glen, 112. 
Goat's Head, 165. 
Godmundingham, 111. 
Godwin, 282. 
Gobban, 163. 
Golgotha, 302. 
Gordian, 72. 
Goths, 21. 
Grantecestir, 233. 
Gratian, 19. 21. 
Greece, 178. 
Greeks, 195. 
Gregory, 2. 39—42. 45—48. 50— 

52. 58. 60—62. 64. Q7 . 72. 74 

—79. 85. 87. 117, 118. 122. 

191. 258. 298. 308. 316. 
Guidi, 22. 
Guthfred, 268. 
Gyrthum, 317. 
Gyrvii, 164. 
Gyrwum, 342. 

Hadulac, 335. 
Haeddi, 305. 



Haethfeld, 228. 

Hagulstad, 127, 128. 219. 243. 

257. 260. 270. 272. 316. 335. 
Hakeness, 245. 
Hebrew, 77- 
Hebron, 304. 
Heddi, 136. 218. 
Helen, 18. 236, 237. 302. 
Hemgels, 295. 
Hengist, 28. 89. 
Henianus, 120. 
Heorthan, 242. 
Heorutford, 205. 
Heraclius, 119. 
Herebald, 275, 276. 
Hereberht, 261, 262. 
Herefrid, 341. 
Hereric, 241. 244. 
Here suit, 242. 
Heru, 242. 
Heruten, 173. 
Hethfeld, 122. 
Hewald Black, 286, 287. 
Hiddila, 226. 
Hewald White, 286, 287- 
Hii, 130. 155. 166. 204. 284. 300, 

301. 330—332. 
Hilarius, 120. 

Hilda, 173. 241, 242. 244, 245. 
Hildehd, 214. 
Homelea, 227- 
Honorius, 20, 21. 24. 114 — 118. 

120. 136. 150. 164. 176. 308. 
Horsa, 28. 
Hrofonfeld, 127. 
Hrypum, 176. 188. 
Huiccians, 335. 
Humber, 335. 
Huns, 283. 
Hunwald, 151. 
Hygbald, 203. 

Iba, 229. 
Idle, 108. 
Iffi, 112. 
Imma, 239. 
Immin, 174. 
In Brige, 139. 
Inderwood, 270. 
Ingethingum, 151. 
Inguald, 341. 
Ingwald, 335. 
Inhis Bofinde, 204, 



374 



INDEX. 



Inhrypum, 268. 307. 310. 314. 

Inlitore, 289- 

Inimdalum, 307. 

Ireland, 7, 8, 86. 88. 131, 132. 

137. 148. 158. 185. 204. 251. 

285, 286. 300, 301. 311. 
Irish, 26. 
Irminiric, 89- 

Israel, 65. 189, 190. 248. 319. 
Israelites, 7l. 
Italy, 7. 19. 75. 87. 175. 
Ithamar, 150. 164. 

Jacob, 190. 

James, 112. 115.175. 177, 178. 197. 

Jariiman, 174. 198. 

Jerusalem, 28. 301, 302. 304. 

Jesse, 189. 

Jesus Christ, 44. 49. 63. 68. 70. 

81. 102, 103. 157. 205. 228, 

229. 269. 299. 
Jews, 157. 178. 
Job, 327. 

John the Baptist, 49. 
John, 120. 179, 180. 191. 195. 

229—231. 243. 270—272. 312. 

342. 
Joseph, 327. 

Julianus of Campania, 20. 
Juhiis, 17. 

Julius Caesar, Caius, 9, 10. 21. 
Justin, 130. 

Justinian, 130. 229- 280. 
Justus, 62. 84. 86. 90—93. 96, 

97. 
Jutes, 27, 28. 227. 
Juti, 226. 

Kalcacester, 242. 

Kent, 2. 27, 28. 42. 70. 84. 88— 

90. 96. 123. 138, 139. 153. 158. 

164. 175. 188. 193. 197. 208. 

218, 219. 228. 233. 240. 255. 

258. 288. 308. 3l6. 
Kynebert, 226. 

Land-of Promise, 301. 

Latimacum, 163. 

Latins, 7- 

Laurentius, 45. 70. 85—87. 90 — 

92. 190. 
Laustranus, 120. 
Legacester, 83. 



Legions, City of, 83. 

Leptis, 12. 

Lestingae, 3. 170. 188. 199. 310. 

Leutherius, 138. 206. 216. 

Licitfield, 198. 

Lincoln, 115. 118. 

Lindisfarne, 4. 129- 147. 155. 198. 

203, 204. 219. 256, 257. 259, 

260. 268, 269. 295. 307- 335. 

340. 
Lindsey, 3. 114. 144, 145. 185. 

198. 202. 219. 
Litchfield, 335. 
Loidis, 113. 173. 
London, 2. 63. 84. 87. 137. 208. 

216. 218. 240. 335. 341. 
Lothair, 228. 
Lotharius, 163. 
Lothere, 208, 240, 255. 
Lucius, 11. 
Lucius Bibulus, 9. 
Luidhard, 43. 
Lyons, 176. 319. 

Macedon, 6. 

Macedonius, 228. 

Mafan, 316. 

Mages, 204. 

Mailros, 183. 256, 257. 284. 290. 

305. 
Malmesbury, 306. 
Marcianus, 38. 

Marcus Antoninus Verus, 11, 
Mark, 322. 
Maro, 236, 237- 
Marseilles, 195. 
Martian, 27. 

Martin, 44. 89. 131. 229—231. 
Mary, 236, 237. 
Maserfeth, 141. 
Maurice, 39. 
Mauritius, 77- 
Maximianus Hercuhus, 13. 
Maximus, 19. 
Meaux, 195. 313. 
Meawara, 220. 
Medeshamstede, 208. 
Meilochon, 131. 
Mellitus, 62. 64. 84. 86, 87. 90 

—94. 166. 
Melmin, 113. 
Mercia, 108. 
Mercians, 3. 28. 112. 122. 137- 



INDEX. 



375 



141. 144. 150. 154. 158. 165. 

171. 173. 192. 198. 203. 206. 

218, 219, 220. 228. 238. 288. 

296. 307. 
Mevanian, 86. 96. 
Michael, 270.313. 
Mid-Angles, 203. 219. 
Morini, 5. 9- 
Moses, 317. 

Naiton, 317, 318. 330. 

Naples, 194. 

Nero, 11, 13. 

Nestorius, 228. 

Nice, 18. 120. 179. 228. 

Nidd, 314. 

Ninevites, 250. 

Niridan, 194. 

North Pole, 6. 

Northumberland, 169. 

Northumbrians, 3. 28. 71.88. 96. 

98. 112. 122. 125, 126. 130. 

141. 154. 165, 166. l7l. 183. 

185. 193. 197. 198. 205. 218. 

223. 228. 241, 242. 254. 269- 

290. 311. 
Nothelm, 340. 
Nothelmus, 2, 3. 
Nynias, 130. 

Oeng, 341. 

Oenguse, 341. 

Oeric, 89. 

Oeta, 89. 

OfFa, 307, 341. 

Oftfor, 243. 

Oidiwald, 269. 

Olivet, Mt. 304. 

Orcades, 5. 11. 

Osfred, 331. 

Osfrid, 112. 122. 

Osred, 305. 307. 

Osri, 112. 

Osric, 125, 126. 150. 243. 333, 

334. 
Ostrich, 238. 
Oswald, 88. 112. 122. 126—128. 

130. 133, 134. 136. 141. 143— 

145. 147—149. 169. 172. 223, 

224. 
Oswi, 88. 149—151. 153. l65— 

167. 171—177. 179. 183. 187 

—189. 193. 



Oswin, 144. 147. 150, 151. 174. 

255. 342. 
Oswulf, 341. 
Oswy, 198. 205. 310. 
Owini, 198, 199- 

Padda, 220. 

Palladius, 24. 

Pamphihis, 326. 

Pancratius, 191. 

Pante, 168. 

Paradise, 52. 

Paris, 137. 187. 195. 

Paul, 46. 55. 57. 70. 11. 84. 89- 

91. 136. 178, 179. 190, 191. 

195. 224. 269. 317. 330, 331. 

334. 342. 
Pauiinus, 62. 96—98. 105. 108. 

— 110. 112. 114 — 118. 123. 125. 

150. 241. 340. 
Pead, 120. 164. 174. 
Peanfahel, 23. 
Pelagius, 20. 
Penda, 120. 137. 150. 154, 155. 

158. 164, 165. 171. 174. 
Perron, 163. 
Pegnaleth, 185. 
Pecthelm, 298. 305. 335. 
Pepin, 286, 287. 289. 341. 
Peter, 45. 69, 70. 73. 77. 84, 85. 

89. 91, 92. 102. 111. 117. 119. 

123. 135, 136. 173. 175. 180. 

182. 190, 191. 195. 224. 229. 

255. 269. 271. 278—281. 307. 

314, 315. 317, 318. 322. 328. 

341. 342. 
Phase, 320. 
Phocas, 71. 11. 87. 
Picts, 7, 8. 22. 24. 26. 28. 35. 88. 

125. 129, 130. 134. 178. 198. 

254, 255. 284. 311. 317. 331. 

335. 340. 
Priscilla, 178. 
Prosper, 20. 
Puch, 273. 
Putta, 197. 206. 218 273. 

Quenburga, 112. 
Quentavic, 195. 
Quichelm, 97- 218. 

Raculph, 282. 
Raraesse, 320. 



376 



INDEX, 



Rathbed, 285, 286. 

Rathmenige, 185. 

Ravenna, 38. 

Redfrid, 195. 

Redger, 341. 

Redwald, 88. 105 — 108. 113, 114. 

157. 
Reghner, 108. 
Rendlesham, I69. 
Reptacestir, 5. 
Reuda, 8. 

Rhine, 9- 21. 287. 289- 
Rhipe, 219. 
Richbercht, 114. 
Ricula, 84. 
Rochester, 92, 93. 123. 150. 197. 

218. 333. 335. 
Rof, 84. 

Rofecestre, 84. 205. 
Romanus, 94. 177. 

Rome, 9. 11. 20—23. 30. 39. 42. 

45. 74. 78, 79. 85. 87. 102. 118. 

130. 148. 176. 178, 179. 189. 

193, 194. 219. 229—231. 243. 

278. 280, 281. 307, 308. 311, 

312. 317. 322. 
Rufinianus, 62. 
Rugius, 283. 
Rutiibi Portus, 5. 

Saba, 89. 

Saethryth, 139. 

Satan, 72, 299. 

Saul, 71. 

Saxon, 228. 

Saxons, 13. 27. 28. 34. 39. 78. 

167. 189. 282.283. 
Saxons (East), 3. 28. 84. 89- 113. 

137. 159. 164. 166, 167. I69. 

171. 192. 205. 208. 209.307. 
Saxons (West), 3. 28. 80. 88. 97. 

98. 136—138. 177. 188. 206. 

217. 219. 225. 227. 305.310. 
Saxons (South), 3. 28. 42. 88. 164. 

219. 222. 227. 255. 306. 311. 
Saxony (Old), 28. 
Scellanus, 120. 

Scotland, 88. 162. 183. 

Scots, 7—9. 22. 71. 86. 88. 120. 

125. 129, 130. 134. 165. 166. 

175. 176. 183. 185. 188. 203. 

204. 254. 255. 284. 300. 308. 

310. 311. 335. 



Scylla, 323. 

Scythia, 7- 

Sebbe, 208. 215. 

Sebbi, 192. 

Seberht, 84. 89. 

Sediilius, 306. 

Segerius, 132. 

Segianus, 120. 

Seleseu, 221. 

Sergius, 278. 288, 289. 

Severianus, 120. 

Severus, 12. 21. 23. 37. 

Sexbald, I69. 

Sexburga, 139. 233. 

Sexulf, 208. 218. 

Sigbercht, 114. 157—159. 166. 

167. 
Sigfrid, 340. 
Sighard, 217. 
Sighere, 192. 208. 
Simon Magus, 329. 
Sinai, Mount, 57. 
Sion, 160. 304. 
Sirmium, 19. 
Solvente, 227. 
Spain, 5. 18. 
Stanford, 310. 

Stephen, 140. 141. 299- 341. 
Streaneshach, 177-241. 242. 255. 
Suebhard, 282. 
Suevi, 21. 
Swithelm, 192. 
Suidbercht, 288. 
Suidbert, 266. 
Suidhelm, I69. 
Surrey, 209. 
Swale, 113. 

Tate, 96. 

Tatfrith, 244. 

Tatwine, 335. 340. 

Tecla, 236, 237. 

Thames, 9. 84. I68. 209. 

Tharsus, 194. 

Theneorus, 341. 

Theobald, 71. 

Theodore, 2. 194—198. 203. 205. 

208. 218. 219. 227. 229. 238. 

243. 244. 259. 260. 272. 281, 

282. 315, 316. 334. 
Theodoret, 229. 
Theodonis, 85. 138. 175. 229. 
Theodosius, 19. 20. 24. 326. 



INDEX. 



377 



Theophilus, 326. 

Thrace, 19. 

Thrydred, 267. 

Thrythwulf, 113. 

Thuuf, 116. 

Tillaburg, 168. 

Tilmon, 287. 

Timothy, 46. 178. 

Tine, 270. 

Tiovulfingacestir, 115. 

Tobias, 282. 333. 

Tomianus, 120. 

Tondberht, 231. 

Tondhere, 151. 

Torchgyth, 212. 213. 

Trent, 115. 174.238 

Treves, 37. 

Trinobantes, 10. 

Tripolis, 12. 

Troyes, 30. 37. 

Trumbercht, 219- 

Trumhere, 173. 174. 192. 201. 

Trum\vine, 219. 255. 260. 

Tuda, 185. 

Tufa, 116. 

Tunberht, 260. 

Tunna, 239. 

Tunnacestir, 239. 

Twede, 256. 290. 

Tyne, 275. 317. 

Tyro, 314. 

Tytili, 114. 

Undahin, 314. 
Utrecht, 289- 
Ultan, 163. 
Utta, 153. 165. 

Valens, 19- 

Valentinian, 19. 38. 

Vandals, 21. 

Varlamacestir, or Vsetlingacestir, 

17. 
Vecta, 28. 
Verolam, 17. 
Vespasian, 11. 
Victgilsus, 28. 
Vintacestir, 137. 



Vinved, 172. 

Virgilius, 61. 

Vitalian, 189. 194. 195. 316. 

Vortigern, 26. 89- 

VufFa, 114. 

Vuffings, 114. 

Vuscfrean, 123. 

Wetadun, 272. 

Waldhere, 216. 

Walstod, 335. 

White Heifer, 204. 

White House, 335. 

Wicbercht, 285. 

Wiccii, 80. 220. 243. 

Wichtred, 255. 

Wighard, 189. 193. 

Wight, Isle of, 3. 11. 27. 220, 

225—227. 335. 
Wilbrod, 148. 285. 288. 289- 311. 
WilfaresDan, 150. 
Wilfares Hill, 150. 
Wilfrid, 148. 176—178. 180. 187. 

188. 197. 198. 205. 218—221. 

225. 226. 231—233. 243. 244. 

278. 288. 306. 307. 309—312. 

314. 315. 317. 335. 340. 341. 
Wiltaburg, 289. 
Wilts, 289. 
Winchester, 136. 137. 225. 306, 

335. 
Wine, 188. 

Winfrid, 203. 206. 208. 341. 
Wini, 137. 
Winifred, 174. 
Wire, 229. 240. 317. 
Wiremuth, 342. 
Withred, 282. 
Woden, 28. 
Wulfhere, 137- 166. 174. 192. 

198.203. 219. 220. 
Wustfrea, 112. 

Ythancestir, 167. 

York, 12. 63. 111. 112. 118. 122. 

150. 187. 198. 219. 243. 260. 

272. 278. 310—312. 317- 335. 

340. 



C c 



WORKS 

PUBLISHED BY, OR OF WHICH THE REMAINING UNSOLD COPIES ARE 
THE PROPERTY OF, 

EDWARD LUMLEY, 

56, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 



Edward Lumley has much pleasure in announcing a new Work in the 
press by Ed. Hawkins, Esq., of the British Museum, on the ENGLISH 
SILVER COINAGE, to be illustrated with numerous plates, most accu- 
rately engraved from specimens really in existence. 

Now first collected, in 5 thick vols, small 8vo. price 21. 2s. 

THE DRAMATIC AND OTHER WORKS OF THOMAS MID- 
DLETON, the Contemporary of Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, Ford, Dekker, 
&c. , Edited, with Account of the Author, and Notes, by the Rev. Alex. Dyce ; 
w,th Portrait, Fac-simile, &c. 

The following is a summary of the Contents : — The Old Law : The Mayor 
of Queenborough ; Blurt, Master-Constable ; The Phoenix ; Michaelmas 
Term ; A Trick to Catch the Old One ; The Family of Love ; Your Five 
Gallants ; A Mad World, My Masters ; The Roaring Girl ; The Honest 
Whore, {Both Parts ;) The Witch ; The Widow ; A Fair Quarrel ; More 
Dissemblers besides Women ; A Chaste Maid in Cheapside ; The Spanish 
Gipsy ; The ChangUng ; A Game at Chess ; Any Thing for a Quiet Life ; 
Women beware Women ; No (Wit-Help) like a Woman's : The Inner 
Temple Masque ; The World Tost at Tennis ; Wisdom of Solomon Para- 
phrased ; The Black Book ; Father Hubbard's Tales ; Masks, &c. &c. &c. 

:^iWlc ^Qt literature. 

Just published, price Ss. 
THE VOIAGE AND TRAVAILE OF SIR JOHN MAUNDEVILLE, 
KNT., which treateth of the WAY to HIERUSALEM ; and of MAR- 
VAYLES of YNDE, with other ILANDS and COUNTRYES: reprinted 
from the Edition of A.D. 1725, from a MS. in the Cottonian Library, and 
collated with seven MSS. and old printed Editions, with an Introduction, ad- 
ditional Notes, and a Glossary, by J. 0. HalliiveU, Esq. F.S.A., H^c. 8fc.,pp. 
xii. 325. London, 1839. With a Frontispiece, Title Vignette, and 70 Fac- 
similes of the old and grotesque Wood-cuts, from the earlier Editions and 
MSS. in the British Museum. 

SPECIMEN OF THE LANGUAGE. 

'* For als moche as the Lond bezonde the See, that is to seye, the Holy 
Lond, that Men callen the Lond of Promyssioun, or of Beheste, passynge alle 
othere Londes, is the mostworthi Lond, most excellent, and Lady and Sove^ 
reyn of alle othere Londes, and is blessed and halewed of the precyous Body 
and Blood of oure Lord Jesu Christ ; in the whiche Lond it lykede him to take 
Flesche and Blood of the Virgyne Marie, to envyrone that Holy Lond with 
his blessede Feet ; and there he wolde of his blessednesse enoumbre him in the 
seyd blessed and gloriouse Virgine Marie, and become " 



EDWARD LUMLEY, 56, CHANCERY LANE. 

MAMMATT'S COLLECTION OF GEOLOGICAL FACTS, &c., in 
the Foiraation of ASHBY COAL-FIELD and Neighbouring District, the 
result or forty years' expei-ience and research. Royal 4to. neat, in cloth, large 
Ma^i add prof.le:;, vnih Sections of the Strata to 1011 /ee^ below the Surface 
of the Earth, and 102 Coloured Plates, 21. - - Ashby, 1836 

This splendid volume was privately printed by the Author ; no Bookseller 
could have published it under six guineas. The Plates, so elegantly and 
faithfully coloured after Nature by Ironmonger, contain upwards of 300 
figures. 

^u^tralta. 

CAPTAIN FLINDERS' VOYAGE TO AUSTRALIA for completing 
the discovery of that vast Country, prosecuted in his Majesty's Ship Inves- 
tigator, and armed vessel Porpoise, and Cumberland Schooner. With Ac- 
count of the Shipwreck of the Porpoise, Arrival of the Cumberland at the 
Mauritius, and Imprisonment during Six Years and a Half in that Island. 2 
vols, royal .^0. new, in canvass, {with fine Views after Westall, and large 
folio Atlas of Admiralty Charts and Botanical Plates,) reduced from 8Z. 85. 
to U. lis. 6^. 

" This truly important voyage was undertaken by command of his Majesty, 
for clearing up the doubt respecting the unity of these southern regions, open- 
ing therein fresh sources to commerce, and new ports to seamen, and contri- 
buting to the advancement of natural knowledge in various branches, and 
visiting some parts of the neighbouring seas wherein geography and naviga- 
tion had still much to desire." Flinders was accompanied by Crosley, Astro- 
nomer ; Brown, Librarian of the Linnean Society, Naturalist ; Bauer and 
Westall, Painters of Natural History and Landscapes ; a Gardener, and Miner. 

The RUDIMENTS of PRACTICAL PERSPECTIVE, by two easy 
methods, one depending on the plan of the object, the other on its dimen- 
sions and position, each entirely free from the usual complication of lines, 
and difficulties arising from remote vanishing points. By Peter Nichol- 
son. 38 plates by Lowry, 8vo. canvass, price 7s. 6d. 

'* Best elementary work for students and workmen." 

CHITTY'S (JOSEPH) PRACTICAL TREATISE on MEDICAL 
JURISPRUDENCE, with so much of Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, 
and the Practice of Medicine and Surgeiy, as are essential to be known by 
Lawyers, Coroners, Magistrates, Officers, and Private Gentlemen. Royal 
8vo, fine Plates. 

Contents : — Language of Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Surgery, 
Chemistry, and Medical Jurisprudence. Materials, Structure, Functions, 
Powers, &c. of the human frame. Skeleton, Bones, Joints,^ Cartilages, 
Muscles, Nerves, Organs, &c. Respiration, Voice, Speech, &c. Function 
of Circulation and its Organs, Heart, Blood, &c. Organs of Mastication, 
Deglutition, &c. Function of Absorption, its Organs, &c. Function of 
Secretion and its Organs, &c. Nervous Function {very valuable). Pas- 
sions, Mind, and Intellectual Faculties, Conscience and Soul, with the 
Organs and Parts. Function of Generation and Organs. Integuments, 
Skin, Nails, Hair, and their Functions. Of the different Ages, important in 
Fact and Law. Essentials for continuance of health and happiness, and 
how secured by law ; with full Index to the whole. 



<r; 



EDWARD LUMLEY, 56, CHANCEF 

SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH ON THE LAV HF NATURE AND 
NATIONS. 12mo. clotli, 2*. 

" A perfect monument of his intellectual strength ^nd syrrjmetry ; and even 
supposing that that essay had been recovered only iiikperfect and mutilated, 
if but a score of its consecutive sentences could have been shown, they would 
bear a testimony to his genius as decided as the bust of Theseus bears to Gre- 
cian art amidst the Elgin marbles." — Thomas Camji ML 

METAPHYSICAL TRACTS, by ENGLISH PHILOSOPHERS of 
the 18th CENTURY, collected and printed, but r-aver pTiblished bv Dr. 
Parr, 8vo. 6.5. 

T. Rev. Arth. Collier's Clavis Universalis, being j;; Dec cj tion of the 
Non-Existence or Impossibility of an External World, 1713 

II. Rev. A. Collier's Specimen of True Philosophy, in a ;3e ;.se on 
Genesis. " In the beginning," - . . 1730 

III. Hartley (David) Conjecturse Qusedam de Senau. Motu, et Idearum 
Generatione. 

IV. (Smith) Inquiry into the Origin of the Human Appef s and Affec- 
tions, with Account of the Entrance of Moral Evil into the W( .d, &c. 1747 

V. Cuthbert Comment (Tucker, Author of the Light of Nature) Man in 
Quest of himself, or a Defence of the Individuality of the Human Mind or 
Self, - - - . . - 1763 

*• Eminently deserving of the notice of the few who, in this country, take 
an interest in those higher speculations to vjhich, in other countries, the name 
of Philosophy is exclusively conceded.^' — Edinburgh Review. 

MEMOIRS of the Life and Writings of the Rev. ARTH. COLLIER ; 
also his Correspondence with Hoadly, Whiston, Clarke, &c. ; and Sermon 
on Christ's Resurrection ; with Account of his Family, by Rob. Benson, 
Esq. 8vo. 6«. 

See a long Review of this " very interesting memoir," in the Gentleman^ s 
Magazine. The Edinburgh Review justly asserts, that *' it is an indispen- 
sable accompaniment to the Tracts.'''' 

BLAKEY'S (R.) HISTORY OF MORAL SCIENCE, including Criti- 
cisms and Analyses of the Works of Hobbes, Cudworth, Locke, Archbishop 
King, Bishop Cumberland, WoUaston, Sam. Clarke, Mandeville, Pope, 
Bolingbroke, Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, Rutherford, Butler, Hume, Hartley, 
Priestley, Paley, Fergusson, Karnes, Smith, Price, Godwin, Gisborne, Co- 
gan, Stewart, Brown, and Dewar, with Brief Notice of Foreign Authors. 
2 vols. 8vo. Is. 6J. published at 12s. - - - 1836 

BLAKEY'S (R.) ESSAY on the Connection between our Notions of 
Moral Good and Evil, and our Conceptions of the Freedom of the Divine 
and Human V/ills. 8vo. 3.9. published at 7*. - - 1834 

BLAKEY'S (R.) ESSAY towards an Easy and Useful SYSTEM of 
LOGIC. Cr. 8vo. 1*. published at 45. 6iZ. - - - 1834 

Eumlej)*^ 23tiiIi0sra^I)tcaI ^tf&evti^cr. 

This publication is intended to be the organ of Communication between 
the Book-buying and Reading public, and the Booksellers of the whole king- 
dom. It is more especially designed to be the means of procuring for Au- 
thors, Scholars, &c. the rarest and most valuable books ; and as each num- 
ber will be strictly confined to literary subjects, no Advertisements can be 
admitted, except those which have reference to matters of analogous charac- 
ter. The literary portion will present unusual attractions from its sterling 
merit, original information, and news. 
%* Advertisements for rare and scarce Works, odd Volumes, or Numbers, 
to complete Sets, inserted in this Advertiser, free of expense. 

William Stevens, Printer, Bell Yard, Temple Bar. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: April 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-21 1 1 



r 



